Ryanair was on 29 October “unlawfully” (according to Ryanair) blocked by the Portuguese Ministry of Infrastructure and ANAC from opening three new routes to Morocco causing the totally unnecessary cancellation of flights for over 3,000 Portuguese passengers due to travel from Lisbon this Sunday Oct 31. This is a clear breach of the EU Open Skies Agreement in place with Morocco. Ryanair has operated between Portugal and Morocco for over three years and it is inexplicable why the Ministry of Infrastructure / ANAC have not issued standard flight authorisations to allow these flights to operate.
Over 3,000 Portuguese passengers will now have their travel plans unnecessarily and unlawfully disrupted due to the cancellation of these flights from Sunday Oct 31. Ryanair repeatedly tried to secure these permissions over the past month, but the faceless bureaucrats from the Ministry of Infrastructure all departed for their holiday break on Friday evening, refusing to issue the routine permissions, demonstrating total indifference to the chaos they have caused to over 3,000 Portuguese passengers whose travel plans to Morocco on the busiest weekend of the year are now in tatters.
Ryanair regrets the unnecessary cancellation of the following flights due to the unlawful actions of the Ministry of Infrastructure:
Flights from Porto to Marrakech will operate as scheduled.
Ryanair’s Director of Commercial, Jason McGuinness, said:
“It is incredible that the Portuguese Department of Infrastructure would force the totally unnecessary cancellation of flights for over 3,000 Portuguese passengers from Sunday Oct 31st. Ryanair already has traffic rights to fly from Portugal to Morocco, successfully operating flights between Portugal and Morocco for over 3 years and there is no good reason for this unlawful action, which is a clear breach of EU law, on the operation of the EU Open Skies agreement.
It is simply outrageous that faceless bureaucrats at the Department of Infrastructure refused to remain at their offices on Friday to resolve this matter but instead departed for the holiday weekend while they wrecked the holiday plans for over 3,000 of their fellow citizens.
Ryanair regrets the unnecessary disruption caused to our passengers by this unlawful action of the Portuguese Department of Infrastructure and will deal with alternative travel arrangements and or refunds for passengers affected.
30 Oct 2021
Subsequently, ANAC (the Portuguese Civil Aviation Authority) clarified why Ryanair was prevented from launching the Morrocan routes:
Clarification on Ryanair’s request to operate new routes to Morocco
On 22.10.2021 ANAC received an application from the airline Ryanair to operate new routes to Morocco.
This request, which was still submitted after the deadline, arises after several insistences by this Authority (since September) for the said air carrier to comply with the law and the applicable regulatory framework and to instruct its processes in a competent manner.
ANAC reiterated to the carrier in due time that it should comply with the law and send the necessary documentation and proceed with the complete investigation of the process, otherwise it would not be possible to analyse the elements and issue the required authorisations.
Although Ryanair’s request was presented to ANAC, less than 15 days before the intention to launch the routes, violating the minimum deadlines in force, this Authority invited the company to supply the missing documentation. Just yesterday, the missing documents were requested regarding the request to launch the routes and, as well, the clarification regarding the regularisation of their contributory situation with the SS.
ANAC and its workers diligently and competently perform their duties and functions, always acting within the limits of the law and enforcing the law, thus safeguarding that all operators compete under the same conditions.
Thus, the carrier’s communication is not understood, nor its difficulty in instructing a process identical to others that it has successfully completed in the past.
ANAC will also act to defend the rights of consumers, reminding the carrier of its obligations with regard to the protection of passengers, in accordance with current European legislation, and will determine the carrier’s responsibilities in the marketing of air transport tickets without the necessary traffic rights.