Madeira News Blog

Source : Diário de Notícias 23/11/2007

I guess most people have heard by now about the huge rockfall in Câmara de Lobos that killed two workers that went out for a cigarette. Judging by the pictures in todays paper, it seems fortunate that the fall wasn’t further along the cliff, where there is a large building that would probably have been buried with far more severe consequences.

Don’t forget that the first switching on of christmas lights in Funchal takes place tonight. Unfortunately us country bumpkins can’t afford to go, and we will have to wait for our own local displays to materialise, which under the threat of budget cuts could be a little disappointing.

Charter flights direct between London Gatwick Airport and Porto Santo Island, operated by the British holiday company Atlantic Holidays will commence in 2008. The first flight is planned for Monday 5th May, and every Monday running through to 27th October using a Boeing 737-300 operated by XL Airways with the capacity for 179 people. A GB Airways flight was also planned, but is on hold for the time being, but with new hotel capacity becoming available it is known that other operators are interested in operating flights direct to Porto Santo.

Much more flight news and information for Madeira, & Porto Santo here:

http://www.madeira4u.com/m4u_Travel/travel_flights.html

I am somewhat amazed by the new services that have started, and the new flights that have been announced, and I am so glad now that I never brought that house we liked in Santa Cruz!

www.madeira4u.com

SATA Flights Boston – Madeira

Source : Diário de Notícias 22-11-2007

The Azores airline group SATA today announced the launch of a new scheduled service between Boston (USA) and Maderia.

The new flight will operate all year, every Friday, in both directions, using an Airbus A310-300. Return flights are priced at €410. No mention of when its starts, and due to my inadequate grasp of Portuguese, I am not clear whether there is a connection / stop on the Azores themselves.

The motive apparently is not only to provide the Portuguese with travel opportunities, as apparently there are quite a large number of Portuguese emigrants over the other side of the pond, but also to bring American tourists to Madeira … now there’s a surprise!

According to feedback from the many American cruise passengers that stop on Madeira for just a few hours, it should be quite popular, as many say they would like to return to Madeira for a proper holiday.

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Well Portugal made it through to the 2008 European Football Championships, so well done, but the English fell at the final hurdle, so no Rooney v Ronaldo possibility now. The England manager got sacked this morning, with a pay out of 2.5 million quid, so I guess that will soften the blow a little.

www.madeira4u.com

Not a huge amount in the news today, so a few comments on other matters.

The EU plans to significantly change the VAT system, in a way that could have adversley affected Madeira’s economy seem to have been blocked for now, thankfully. Plans for e-commerce sales to be taxed at the current rate in the country of consumption rather than the county of supply, would have made Madeira’s internet and communications businesses somewhat less attractive. Many companies set up here purely for the tax advantages.

Any change to tax laws have to have the unanimous backing of every countries EU Finance Minister, and as Luxembourg (along with Madeira) enjoys the lowest VAT rate in Europe, it’s a bit like Turkeys voting for Christmas, so hopefully that’s gone away for a few more years.

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Anyone noticed increased charges for the water supply recently? My very small bills of €3 per month have escalated to an out of control €5 per month. On close examination of the last few bills, I see the monthly metering charge has gone up by 5 times from €0.50 to €2.50. I am still waiting for my letter of notification …… horrendous!

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Hugo Chávez, the presidente of Venezuela was in Portugal yesterday, and remarked that he came to Madeira once and there were Venezuelan’s all over place. Given the recent controversies and discussions over whether Madeira should seek it’s independence, perhaps Sr. Chávez has long term plans to include Madeira in his empire. Already there certainly seems to be a strong bond between Madeira and Venezuela.

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Leaving the best ’till last … footie ….

Portugal need to not lose to Finland tonight to reach the European Championship 2008 finals, so a few locals will be rooted to the TV later on. Also, if the England team avoids defeat tonight they will also qualify … I certainly hope so, so they might end up in Portugals group in 2008. What a prospect – Rooney V Ronaldo round II !

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OK, one more thing … if anyone has read the recent blog article about the building of far too many high rise buildings in the west end of outer Funchal, it was referred to in that article as Choca-Bloca. It is with great pride that I can announce that a search on google.com using this term, comes up number 3. on the first page … so if the good people at Google like it, that’s good enough for me.

PS – I have no spell checker on my Blog generator, so when you spot a spelling error, yes it’s all my fault … there again a blog wouldn’t be a blog without a few grammatical and spelling errors.

www.madeira4u.com