11/10/2013 00:00
TW
0
Staff Reporter

PALMA
THE Spanish Ministry for Public Works and the Balearic Government have agreed to finalise the project for fixing interisland flight prices in a flexible manner (25 percent upwards or downwards) during the next few months.

This measure will come into force from January 1 next year, according to the Balearic Ministry for Mobility, Gabriel Vicens, and the Secretary General for Transport, Fernando Palao Taboada. He was speaking after the meeting in the Consolat del Mar, which was presided over by the leader of the Balearic Government, Francesc Antich.

This measure, which Air Nostrum has been demanding for some time so that it can continue putting on the same number of flights during the Winter as it does in the Summer, has as its object “to bring the price of interisland flights down and make them more affordable to the consumer”, said Vicens.

The Minister explained that the measure had been adopted in “parallel” with the study being carried out by the Balearic Government.
The object of this is to choose, within a maximum of 18 months, the airline which offers the best conditions for the management of interisland flights. “The objective is to try to improve the Public Service Obligation. We have already arranged a meeting for October 17 to accelerate this project. “The meeting will take place in the Spanish Ministry of Public works and will be between director of the Spanish Government's the Civil Aviation Department, the director of the Balearic Government's Civil Aviation department, and Air Nostrum to decide on the flexibility of the prices, and whatever is decided will take effect immediately”, said Palao.

Vicens repeated that, via this system, the companies which handle interisland flights will be able to offer “lower” prices.
However, he insisted that the Balearic Government is analysing the public tendering system for this process which, according to him, is “much more complex, due to the fact that this process can last more than a year as it has to be approved by the European Union”.

Palao said that more flexible prices are already being applied to interisland flights within the Canary Islands. He underlined that via this system companies are allowed to increase their prices in line with those fixed in the Public Service Declaration, with the aim that the airlines will be able to sustain their flights during the low season, when there are less passengers.