ACN
The Government of the Canary Islands and the State Civil Aviation have reached an agreement that will eliminate the costs of double insularity in air fares, while setting the public service obligations of the companies that operate in the Islands, makes fares more flexible and supports groups of young people, retirees and federated athletes. This agreement will be approved shortly by the Council of Ministers at the proposal of the Ministry of Development, according to a press release from the Autonomous Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Housing.
The General Directorate of Transport of the Government of the Canary Islands has argued before the State that the increase in demand for air services in the Archipelago by more than 40% in the period of validity of the 1998 Agreement makes it necessary to adapt the service quality parameters, in terms of frequencies and minimum seat offer, and place them closer to the real demand of citizens.
It is also proposed to modify the current system of maximum fares contemplated in the previous Agreement for a system of flexible fares that allows companies to adapt their pricing policy to the real needs of users following the principles established in Council Regulation 2409/92 on fares and freight for air services, promoting greater productivity of their fleet through a more appropriate temporary use of it.
The new text also attempts to eliminate the cost of double insularity suffered by the inhabitants of the smaller islands through the point-to-point service obligation. When there are no direct non-stop services between two islands belonging to different provinces, airlines will offer fares that do not exceed 60% of the sum of reference fares for each of the sections that make up the flight.
It is also committed to establishing social fares with reduced prices compared to the reference fare prices, at least for the following categories of passengers: young people under twenty-two years of age, for university students under 27 years of age residing in the non-capital islands, people who have reached the age of sixty-five, and teams federated in official competitions in the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands.
The new Agreement declares the public service obligations on certain air routes between the Canary Islands in application of Law 66/1997, of December 30, on Fiscal, Administrative and Social Order Measures, and of the aforementioned Regulation 2408/92.
MANDATORY ROUTES
Public service obligations are declared in regular air services provided on the following routes: Gran Canaria - Tenerife North; Tenerife South - Gran Canaria; Gran Canaria - Lanzarote; Tenerife North - Lanzarote; Gran Canaria - Fuerteventura; Gran Canaria - El Hierro; Gran Canaria - La Palma; Tenerife North - Fuerteventura; Tenerife North - El Hierro; Tenerife North - La Palma; La Palma - Lanzarote; Gran Canaria - La Gomera; and Tenerife North - La Gomera.
The need for a new text is given by the commissioning since 1998 of new infrastructures and the incorporation of new airlines and fleets of greater capacity, which have allowed to obtain information on the set of benefits of the air transport system between the islands. This recommends introducing modifications to it to achieve a better adaptation of the aforementioned obligations to the real needs of users, so, given the extent of the modifications to the text of the previous one, it has been considered more correct to propose a new text, leaving the previous one without effect.
A Mixed Commission will know and periodically analyze the fulfillment and effects of the establishment of the flexible fare system in inter-island air transport, as well as the evolution of market conditions.
