The Committee on Labor, Inclusion, Social Security and Migration has unanimously approved a motion presented by the Socialist Territorial Group of the Canary Islands, urging the Government to analyze the possibility of declaring the Public Service Obligation (PSO) in the air routes connecting the Canary Islands with the rest of Spain.
This request, defended by the senator for Lanzarote, first secretary of the Senate Bureau and member of the Permanent Deputation, Manuel Fajardo, adds to the one already presented by the Government of the Canary Islands, through the Minister of Public Works, Transport and Housing, Sebastián Franquis, to "agree on the establishment, on an experimental basis, of a Canary Islands-Peninsula PSO that allows controlling the rise in air ticket prices."
In this sense, Fajardo stated during his speech that, "from the moment the resident discount increased to 75% for routes connecting these territories with each other or with the Peninsula or other international destinations, there are no real transport alternatives in similar conditions of immediacy and frequency."
Likewise, the Canarian senator confirmed the need to implement a PSO in air connectivity and, consequently, the possibility of establishing maximum reference prices, as well as guaranteeing a minimum provision of regular services in terms of continuity, regularity and minimum capacity.
For his part, the senator for Gran Canaria, Ramón Morales, recalled "the serious prejudice that the specific circumstances of ultra-peripherality and double insularity entail for the economy and tourism of the Archipelago. This measure must guarantee, by the companies, the connectivity that the Canary Islands needs with the rest of the peninsular territory and put an end to speculation in the price of tickets," Morales explained. That is why he urged the rest of the group of senators to support this motion "so that both Canarians and peninsulars or residents who live in the Peninsula can travel to the islands with reasonable prices."