TOURISM LAW AND COMPETITION – A PORTUGUESE PERSPECTIVE 471 It is acknowledged in the Commission’s decision that “Projections in the liquidity plan were made in the context of current uncertainty and widespread disruption of normal patterns of business activity about future projections of the airline business. Indeed, Portugal stresses that it is impossible for any liquidity plan to fully identify and quantify the impact of all COVID-19 related uncertainties and implications on SATA Group’s activity and projections”. Of relevance is also the counterfactual of the authorised rescue measure which highlights the specificities of the geographic situation and its consequences also in the competitive dynamics of sectors such as the touristic one. Firstly, “Portugal claims that, in the absence of the guaranteed rescue loan, the beneficiary would fail to meet immediate and significant payments falling due. SATA’s failure would in turn disrupt territorial continuity of Portugal mainland and the Azores (recital (16)). Since transport by sea from the mainland to the Region depend on weather conditions and are no alternative to air transport, Portugal indicates a risk of disruption of an important service which is hard to replicate and where it would be difficult for any competitor to step in quickly”. And the importance of air travel to tourism is again highlighted by Portugal in that “the Azores is an economy on a development path but with critical challenges to overcome. In that context, SATA has an important systemic role for the Region and its tourism in particular, so that its exit would have severe negative consequences. An important segment of companies – namely hotels, restaurants, social and cultural events, retail shops and other tourism-related activities – would have increased difficulties without support to the operations of SATA in bringing tourists and people from the diaspora. Most of those companies that may survive COVID-19 crisis only due to support of the Portuguese government through temporary subsidised work and measures which allow them to defer due payments, need tourism to ramp up”. And in this line the Commission acknowledges the pursuance of a well-defined objective of common interest based notably on the OR specificities, SATA’s importance for the Azorean economy. Moreover, the Commission acknowledges that “The consequences of a failure of the SATA would be particularly serious in the context of the social and economic crisis generated by the COVID-19 outbreak and would therefore greatly hinder the economic recovery path of the region. Many other companies in the value chain, particularly in the archipelago, would be affected by SATA’s failure. A failure of SATA would lead to severe social and economic hardship for the Region and significant negative spill-over effects on important segments of the economy concerning tourism-related activities”.
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