Speaking to Lusa, Jaime Toga, a member of the party's political commission, began by saying that, “if it is confirmed, it is a negative and harmful episode for the region”.

In today's edition, Jornal de Notícias reports that, compared to the summer of 2019, TAP will operate seven fewer routes and offer 705,000 fewer seats from Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport in Porto, unlike the main international companies that have instead reinforced their presence.

“It is a measure that is profoundly negative for Porto and the North, but also for the country, because the economic development of the country cannot be done without boosting the economic development of the North”, pointed out the communist politician.

And he continued: “it is not possible for a country to advance if it does not advance as a whole, if it does not have a national development strategy, and the public air carrier must necessarily contribute to this national development strategy”.

Continuing with the warnings, Jaime Toga said that there is “a great concern with regional development” (…) it is an integral part of national development and there will not be if the asymmetries and inequalities between regions are accentuated”.

Returning to TAP, the communist leader accused the PS Government of having “particular responsibility in this process, because it could have an intervention, based on public control, that would allow the company to serve the country and not a company that does not respond to the needs from the country".