Madeira and the Azores Are Still Waiting: Portugal's Air Mobility Reform Is Approved, Promulgated — and Still Stuck

Six months after Portugal's parliament approved sweeping reforms to how residents of the Azores and Madeira pay for flights to the mainland, the law that was meant to fix a long-standing source of frustration for islanders is, according to opposition parties and political groups across the spectrum, still not properly working. This week, Chega has formally accused the government of blocking the rollout of the reform, the Socialist Party (PS) is demanding answers in parliament, and Paulo Azevedo, regional coordinator of the party Nova Direita in Madeira, has gone further still — accusing successive national and regional governments of failing the constitutional principle of territorial continuity altogether. Here is the full story of how Portugal's island mobility subsidy reform got here, and why, even after being passed by parliament and signed into law by the President, residents say they still aren't feeling the benefit.

What the Reform Was Supposed to Do

At the heart of this dispute is the Social Mobility Subsidy (Subsídio Social de Mobilidade, or SSM) — a support mechanism created in 2015 to help residents of the Azores and Madeira, along with students travelling to and from those archipelagos, cope with the high cost of flying to and from mainland Portugal. Under the scheme, residents pay the full ticket price up front and then claim back the difference between that cost and a government-set maximum fare — historically €79 for Madeira residents and €119 for Azores residents on a round trip, with lower rates for students.

In September 2024, the government led by Luís Montenegro introduced a cap of €600 on the eligible ticket value for Azores routes (mirroring an existing €400 cap for Madeira, €500 from Porto Santo) — a move that immediately drew criticism from both autonomous regions for effectively limiting how much support residents could receive on more expensive flights. In January 2026, the government added a further requirement: beneficiaries had to prove they had no outstanding debts to the Tax Authority or Social Security in order to access the refund — a rule that was so widely contested by regional governments and parties that it was suspended before ever being enforced.

The backlash culminated in a parliamentary vote on April 10, 2026, when the opposition — PS and Chega, with abstentions from CDS-PP, IL, and the PCP — pushed through a sweeping rewrite of the system, leaving the PSD isolated as the only party to vote against it, although notably all six PSD members of parliament elected by Madeira and the Azores broke ranks with their own party and voted in favour. The reform did three major things: it eliminated the maximum cap on the eligible ticket cost entirely, it scrapped the requirement to prove a clean tax and social security record, and it simplified the paperwork, requiring only an invoice as proof of purchase rather than a formal payment receipt. It also renamed the scheme entirely — from the Social Mobility Subsidy to the Territorial Continuity Mechanism (Mecanismo de Continuidade Territorial, MCT) — a symbolic shift meant to frame the support not as social welfare, but as a constitutional right owed to citizens of the autonomous regions.

President of the Republic António José Seguro signed the new law into force, formally becoming Lei n.º 23/2026, with an effective date of June 6, 2026. In signing it, Seguro struck a note of caution alongside his approval, warning that "the elimination of the maximum cap on the eligible cost of airline tickets could carry various effects that will require careful regulation and demanding oversight of the new regime's implementation" — a warning that has proven, in the eyes of critics, to be entirely justified.

Chega's Accusation: A Government Sitting on Its Own Law

This week, Chega escalated its criticism dramatically. According to the party, the central problem is straightforward: Parliament approved the law, the President promulgated it, and yet the government of Luís Montenegro — a PSD/CDS-PP coalition — has still not issued the regulatory implementation needed to actually put several of its key provisions into practice.

Chega MP Francisco Gomes, who is from Madeira, described the situation in blunt terms, calling it "an unacceptable disgrace" and accusing the executive of maintaining "a blockade on the entry into force of the new rules." The measures still awaiting implementation, according to Chega, include the end of the maximum support ceilings, the simplification of administrative procedures, and the continued use of CTT post offices as in-person support points for citizens with limited digital literacy. The reform was also meant to integrate travel agencies directly into the system's electronic platform — a change that would allow residents of Madeira and the Azores to simply pay the final, subsidised price at the moment of purchase, rather than paying the full fare upfront and waiting for reimbursement, which remains the single biggest practical complaint about the entire system.

"Parliament approved the law, the President promulgated it, and the travel agencies are ready. The only problem is a government that continues to block a measure that is essential for the people of Madeira and the Azores," Gomes said, framing mobility as "an essential instrument of territorial cohesion." He went further, accusing the central government of disrespecting both the legislature's will and the rights of citizens in the autonomous regions, declaring that "the people of Madeira and the Azores are fed up with excuses, delays, and empty promises." Chega has requested that government ministers be formally summoned to answer questions before the relevant parliamentary committee, though a date for that hearing depends on the Assembly of the Republic's own scheduling.

The PS Joins the Pressure Campaign

Chega is not alone in pressing the government on this issue. The Socialist Party has also been demanding explanations over what it characterises as an unjustified suspension or delay in implementing the new rules. Francisco César, the PS regional leader in the Azores and a member of the national parliament, has called the elimination of the old €600 ceiling on Azores ticket costs "an important victory for the people of the Azores and for the principle of territorial continuity," and argued that swift implementation matters precisely because it represents "an important relief for many Azorean families" at a time of rising costs.

The political dispute over the reform has not been a simple left-versus-right divide. In April, Paulo Cafôfo, leader of the PS parliamentary group in Madeira's regional assembly, accused the regional PSD government of Madeira of "standing alongside EasyJet, not alongside the people of Madeira" — referring to warnings from Madeira's regional president, Miguel Albuquerque, that scrapping the maximum refund cap could prompt airlines to raise prices or even refuse to operate certain routes to the islands altogether. The PSD's own parliamentary leader, Alexandre Poço, defended his party's original 2015 creation of the subsidy scheme while dismissing what he called lecturing on regional autonomy from rival parties — comments that drew sharp rebuttals from PS, Bloco de Esquerda, and Livre representatives, who argued the reform was correcting a flawed model that the mainland PSD itself had designed.

Paulo Azevedo: "A Violation of the Constitution"

While Chega and the PS have focused their fire on implementation delays, Paulo Azevedo, regional coordinator of the Nova Direita party in Madeira, has taken a more sweeping and structurally critical position. In a manifesto addressed to island populations and government officials this week, Azevedo accused successive governments — both of the Republic and of the autonomous regions of Madeira and the Azores — of failing entirely to fulfil the constitutional principle of territorial continuity.

His central argument is that the current model, even under its new and reformed rules, still requires residents to pay the full cost of their airfare upfront, out of their own pocket, before being able to claim a reimbursement from the state. According to Azevedo, this practice itself constitutes a violation of the constitutional principle of territorial continuity enshrined in the Portuguese Constitution, because it conditions citizens' ability to travel on their immediate financial capacity — effectively penalising those who cannot afford to front the cost of a ticket while waiting weeks or months for reimbursement.

Nova Direita also directed sharp criticism at the implementation of Lei n.º 23/2026 itself, arguing that administrative and bureaucratic obstacles persist that prevent the new regime from being fully applied — echoing, from a different political direction, exactly the complaint Chega has been making in parliament. The party contends that the absence of proper regulation, combined with outdated systems that haven't been updated to match the new law, is delaying citizens' access to the benefits the legislation was designed to provide.

Among its specific proposals, Nova Direita is calling for the adoption of a direct sale tariff for residents — meaning passengers would pay only the final, already-subsidised amount at the moment of ticket purchase, with the state settling the difference directly with the airlines afterward. Under this model, Madeira residents would pay just €79 directly (€59 for students), with the government handling the rest of the financial reconciliation behind the scenes, removing the upfront cost burden entirely. In his manifesto, Azevedo also accused both national and regional governments of lacking the political will to resolve the problem.

A Promise That Keeps Slipping

This is not the first time officials have promised that residents would eventually be able to pay only the discounted fare at the point of sale, rather than the full price followed by reimbursement. Earlier this year, Madeira's regional secretary for Tourism, Environment and Culture, Eduardo Jesus, said he had received assurances that by the end of 2026, passengers would be able to pay only the final, subsidy-adjusted ticket price at the time of purchase. That promise, along with the broader digitalisation of the application process through Portugal's central government services portal, remains a work in progress, with officials indicating that during the transition period, the older reimbursement-based system will continue running in parallel for at least another year.

For now, the practical reality on the ground in Madeira and the Azores remains largely unchanged from before the reform was passed: residents and students still pay the full ticket price upfront and must apply separately for reimbursement, even though the law removing the obstacles to a simpler, more direct system has already been approved by parliament and signed by the President. Whether the Montenegro government moves to issue the outstanding implementing regulations Chega is demanding, whether the PS succeeds in extracting clearer answers in parliamentary committee, or whether Paulo Azevedo's broader constitutional critique gains political traction beyond Madeira's political fringe, the people most directly affected — islanders who simply want to be able to afford a flight to the mainland without first having to find the money to cover the full fare themselves — are still waiting for the promise of territorial continuity to actually arrive.

Sources

1. DNOTICIAS.PT — Chega acusa Governo de bloquear reforma aérea na Madeira
2. DNOTICIAS.PT — Paulo Azevedo acusa governos de falharem continuidade territorial
3. SAPO — Paulo Azevedo acusa governos de falharem continuidade territorial
4. Público — Deputados do PSD pela Madeira e Açores ajudam oposição a aprovar novo subsídio social de mobilidade
5. Jornal de Notícias — PSD isolado na votação de alterações ao subsídio da mobilidade acusa PS e Chega de darem as mãos
6. Jornal Madeira — PSD isolado na votação de alterações ao subsídio da mobilidade acusa PS e Chega de dar as mãos
7. Açoriano Oriental — PSD/Madeira diz que processo de revisão do subsídio de mobilidade "acabou pior"
8. Observador — PSD/Madeira acusa PS e Chega de "visão centralista" sobre o subsídio social de mobilidade
9. Jornal Açores 9 — Líder do PS/Açores apela ao Governo que implemente de forma rápida alterações ao subsídio de mobilidade
10. Idealista News — Subsídio Social de Mobilidade tem novo nome e novas regras