The businessman David Neeleman, one of the owners of the firm, said that it is necessary an increase of the Lisbon airport, suggesting the use of Montijo, and argued that this process must move quickly because the TAP can not wait for more.
“We need more tracks, more terminals. We have an airport that side [of the river Tagus, the base of Montijo] which must be open, because without that, we won’t be able to grow “, said today to the businessman, the consortium’s Atlantic Gateway, the private shareholder of the firm.
“Until the next year we have many things we want to do, what we could do, but we will not be able to do,” said the responsible person, which is already on the sidelines, he defended the journalists explicitly the solution Portela + 1, referring to the fact that in Montijo could be the companies budget, such as Easyjet and Ryanair, while the TAP (including TAP Express) would be left with the enjoyment of the terminal 2 of the airport of Portela.
Neeleman defended even so, all the companies would gain space to grow their operations, especially at peak times.
At the conference, Neeleman also said that since the ANA – Airports of Portugal, it was privatized that the costs for the TAP already rose 20%, but that there has been no major investment in the airport and that it is time to begin to do.
The businessman told reporters that three years, the time that talking to increase the the airport, it is too much for the airline company which is the controlling shareholder.
“We don’t have three years”, concluded.
The Government has included in the proposal of the great options of the plan for 2017 the decision on the future of the Lisbon airport, which can pass by its expansion or by the existence of an infrastructure that is complementary.
In the document, that the Lusa had access last week, it is stated that “the Government has started, in 2016, the assessment studies of the future capacity of the Airport Humberto Delgado, so that, during the year 2017, to be taken the necessary decisions on this matter”.
The airport of Lisbon has surpassed the barrier of 20 million passengers in 2015, a rise of 10.7% compared to the previous year, according to data published by ANA – Airports of Portugal, in January.
At the time, the minister of Equipment and Infrastructure, Pedro Marques, highlighted that this number of passengers raises new challenges, adding that a team was studying all the details concerning the option of Montijo as a solution to respond to the increased demand of passengers.
The executive president of TAP, Fernando Pinto, also had already publicly stated that it considers that the Air Base of Montijo is the “only possible solution” to cope with the bottleneck of the airport of Lisbon.
David Neeleman said that the TAP needs to cut costs, but that will make for efficiency and not for dismissal, referring to the fact that the company may not be based on results in the low oil price.
“The people thought that we were going to cut salaries, not people, this is the new active. When we say that we have to save 150 million euros, with efficiency,” said at the Summit of the Portuguese Tourism, which was held in Lisbon.
The businessman the brazilian and north-american have underlined that “the TAP has to strengthen to the results improve” and that they “have to improve” because the company can’t continue as it is today.
Asked on the sidelines of the Summit, about how much more time the TAP handle with the results that you have, Neeleman replied that the airline can handle while the barrel of fuel is below 50 euros, but that the company can’t count on that for the future, because the price will inevitably go up sooner or later, so you have to reorganize.
During the summit, the entrepreneur had already said that, in 2016, TAP will have already saved more than 200 million euros in jetfuel, in the face of 2015.
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