The draft of the new Sustainable and Intelligent Mobility Strategy for the Canary Islands (EMSICAN) includes a series of significant measures to curb the rising cost of air transport between the archipelago and the mainland.
The document focuses on the behavior of airfares and proposes mechanisms for direct oversight of the companies' pricing dynamics.
Among the main proposals, the formula to audit the algorithms used by airlines to adjust their prices in real-time stands out. The regional administration seeks to ensure greater transparency and monitor the evolution of the base ticket price before the 75% discount for residents is applied, thus preventing the public subsidy from being absorbed by unjustified fare increases.
Likewise, the strategy opens the door to promoting the declaration of Public Service Obligation (PSO) during critical periods of high demand, such as summer holidays or Christmas. This legal figure would allow for a temporary fare cap on routes to the mainland to protect passengers from the excessive price hikes that are usually recorded during these times.
The draft justifies these interventions based on the island status and the extreme dependence of the Canary Islands on air transport, arguing that connectivity with the rest of the national territory is an essential service for the territorial and social cohesion of residents.
In this regard, EMSICAN points out that the state subsidy of 75% should not become an indirect incentive for the excessive increase in journey costs, which is why it is essential to closely monitor market departure fares.
With these initiatives, the regional Executive aims to lay the groundwork for stricter regulation that prevents situations of abuse or helplessness for users during the times of year with the highest travel flow.
If approved in its current terms, the strategic framework will raise regulatory demands on the Ministry of Transport and competition authorities to more rigorously scrutinize the commercial practices of airlines operating in the islands.
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