“On 21st March, we will resume our daily flight activity between Bragança, Vila Real, Viseu, Cascais and Portimão”, reads a Sevenair post on social media, which explained that ticket purchases are now available again.

Meanwhile, Carlos Amaro, from the airline's management, confirmed to Lusa that Sevenair has already paid the debt for the plane, which was held at Tires aerodrome due to restrictions imposed by the municipal company Cascais Dinâmica, due to the lack of payment of an alleged debt owed by the company responsible for the air connection.

At issue was a disagreement regarding an alleged debt for handling fees, the services provided with the plane grounded, in the amount of 107 thousand euros plus VAT (or a debt of 132,471.95 euros, according to the local authority) that Cascais Dinâmica demanded, but which the carrier considered “not to be due”.

The return to operation comes after Sevenair paid more than 130 thousand euros, a payment that, however, the company says it will contest in court, as it considers that the debt was collected unduly.

Lusa recalls that Sevenair questioned the National Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC) about the legality of the assistance fee, as it operates under a “self-handling regime” with a company it owns, but the regulatory body concluded that the fee “is due by ground handling service providers or air carriers with a license for self-handling on ground”.

“Sevenair prefers to exhaust the legal means available to it to finally speak. However, as the speed of justice does not keep up with reality, we accept paying what is demanded of us, as soon as the State reimburses us what it owes us, in order to resume operations”, the airline’s management had already stated during this interruption, in a statement to which Lusa had access to.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing told Lusa that it expected to pay Sevenair 660.5 thousand euros in the coming days, relating to the fourth and final year of the previous concession contract for the public regional air link Bragança-Portimão, with the amounts of the direct adjustments made still missing.