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Rabat- The Portuguese Ministry of Infrastructure and ANAC blocked Ryanair from opening three new routes to Morocco today, October 31, causing outcry among thousands of passengers who were due to leave Lisbon on Sunday.
Due to the cancellation of these flights from Sunday, October 31, over 3,000 Portuguese passengers will now have their travel plans disrupted unnecessarily, Ryanair said in a statement.
According to Morocco’s National Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC), “Ryanair did not make the request in accordance with the law and on time, by complying with legal requirements and by issuing all the necessary documents to the analysis of the request, despite the fact that the ANAC has requested them on several occasions […]. It would be illegal to grant permission in violation of applicable law. ”
Ryanair’s Commercial Director, Jason McGuinness, said: “It is incredible that the Portuguese Department of Infrastructure would force the totally unnecessary cancellation of flights for over 3,000 Portuguese passengers from Sunday October 31.”
He added, “Ryanair already has traffic rights to fly from Portugal to Morocco, successfully operating flights between Portugal and Morocco for over 3 years and there is no good reason for this unlawful action, which is a clear breach of EU law, on the operation of the EU Open Skies agreement.”
Despite multiple attempts over the past month to secure these permits, the Portuguese Ministry of Infrastructure personnel departed for their holiday break on Friday evening, leaving thousands of Portuguese passengers in a state of total confusion about their travel plans to Morocco on the busiest weekend of the year.
“It is simply outrageous that faceless bureaucrats at the Department of Infrastructure refused to remain at their offices on Friday to resolve this matter but instead departed for the holiday weekend while they wrecked the holiday plans for over 3,000 of their fellow citizens,” McGuinness stated.
Read Also: Ryanair To Launch 3 New Air Routes Between Spain, Morocco
