“This is terrible news for Portuguese taxpayers, TAP will cost us at least €3.2 billion to provide service to a single airport”, he said.

Saying that this is a “regrettable” political option that will be judged on January 30, during the legislative elections, Nuno Botelho said that the money allocated to TAP will not have a return.

“It's money the Portuguese are wasting”, he said.

Considering that TAP “has no solution”, Nuno Botelho reinforced that the air carrier will be smaller, will have fewer planes, employees and slots.

In his opinion, the money channelled to TAP would be better spent on culture, the national health service or education.

Critical about the “bad service” provided by the air carrier in Porto, the president of the Commercial Association stated that it is “increasingly irrelevant and non-existent”.

TAP, he said, is providing service in Lisbon, so "it would be better to leave the slots available at other airports for other companies".