The Central Executive sends the proposal for OSP routes between the Green Islands to the airlines and the Government of the Canary Islands
The Government of Spain has taken a new step to improve air connections between La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro. The Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, has announced that the proposal to declare these routes as a public service obligation (OSP) has already been sent to the airlines and the Government of the Canary Islands.
As Torres explained through his account on the social network X, the document was officially sent last Friday, October 30, through an emergency procedure. The consulted parties now have five days to present allegations, before the initiative can be raised to the Council of Ministers.
“The public service obligation of the air routes between the Green Islands (La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro) cannot be reversed,” stated the minister, who trusts that the allegations are favorable.
Five days of allegations before reaching the Council of Ministers
The announcement represents new progress in an initiative that Torres had already advanced on October 23, when he communicated the Ministry of Transport's intention to promote the declaration of public service obligation for air connections between the three Western Islands.
On this occasion, the main novelty is that the proposal has entered a new phase of administrative processing.
The central government intends to complete this procedure as soon as possible so that the file can be examined by the Council of Ministers.
However, the measure has not yet received final approval and a date for its entry into force has not been announced.
Nor have the frequencies, schedules, rates or operating conditions that future connections would have been specified.
What would the public service obligation mean for the Green Islands?
The public service obligation is a mechanism that allows administrations to establish specific conditions to guarantee certain air connections.
According to the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, this instrument is used when the normal functioning of the market does not guarantee adequate mobility for citizens, both due to the availability of flights and their prices.
Conditions that can be set through a PSO include the minimum number of flights, aircraft capacity, schedules and maximum prices.
In the case of La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro, the proposal seeks to improve communications between three islands whose inhabitants have been demanding more efficient direct air connections for years.
Currently, the lack of certain direct links forces us to make trips with a stopover on other Islands, mainly Tenerife, which increases the time necessary to travel between these territories.
The future declaration could make it possible to establish service conditions adapted to the mobility needs of the population, although its specific scope will depend on the text that is finally approved.
Torres considers that the procedure initiated represents progress to address this demand of palmeros, gomeros and herreños.
The next step will be to examine the allegations presented by the airlines and the Government of the Canary Islands, with the aim of continuing the processing until their possible approval by the Council of Ministers.
