The President of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and Leader of the Portuguese Opposition, Rui Rio, recognizes that the company Transportes Aereos Portugueses (TAP) is the flag carrier of "some other country" and not of Portugal, because TAP flights cost more than 3.5 times as much, about 37 thousand meticais (507 euros) from Portugal than from any other European country with a stop in Lisbon to any destination.

The politician made this observation during an electoral debate with the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, on Friday (14). The economist also considered this situation that TAP subjects the Portuguese and or other citizens who want to continue traveling from Portugal "unacceptable", "revolting" and "very serious".

On the occasion, the PSD political leader compared the prices for the same TAP flight to San Francisco, in the United States: one departing from Lisbon and the other from Madrid with a stopover in the Portuguese capital.

According to Rui Rio, "the Spanish [citizen] pays 190 euros to go from Madrid to San Francisco with a stopover in Lisbon. How much does a Portuguese citizen pay if he takes the same plane from Madrid to Lisbon? He pays 697 euros.

The flight is thus 73% cheaper from Madrid. Or, in other words, it is more than three and a half times more expensive from Lisbon.

And, with this, he came to the conclusion that TAP "is a flag carrier, but it's a flag carrier from Spain or any other country. We [Portuguese] are the ones who pay!"

The example presented by Rui Rio is no exception. According to cnnportugal, which did several price simulations for different dates, it found that in all of them, flying TAP from Madrid with a stopover in Lisbon is substantially cheaper than flying directly from Lisbon to other destinations.