The information on the number of aircraft was confirmed to ECO by ANA, which did not, however, wish to provide further information on the owners of the aircraft.

The case of the Boeing 727 parked at Faro airport since 2007 has been known for a long time. The aircraft, which entered service with Lufthansa in 1965, belonged to Jean-Pierre Bemba, former vice-president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and was seized at the request of the prosecutor general of the International Criminal Court, who accused him of war crimes. In addition to the plane, a house in Quinta do Lago, two top-of-the-range cars and a yacht were seized, according to Público at the time.

The Boeing 727 that belonged to the former vice-president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jean-Pierre Bemba, has been parked at Faro airport since 2007.

Bemba was arrested in 2008 and served ten years in prison. After being released, he returned to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, having been appointed in 2023 as Deputy Prime Minister by President Félix Tshisekedi. He is currently the Minister of Transport.

The two Airbus A319s are parked at Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport and are newer. According to ECO, they were operated by the Portuguese charter flight company White Airways under an ACMI regime, a lease contract that, in addition to the aircraft, includes crew, maintenance and insurance.

The concessionaire expressed its concerns to the Government about this type of case, which in addition to taking up space on the track represents an environmental problem. According to reports from Jornal de Negócios and Público, the Executive intends to move forward with a change in the legal framework of the concession of public airport service to ANA, which will give the concessionaire the possibility of removing the planes.

An aircraft that has been parked “uninterruptedly” for more than 90 days beyond what was stipulated or has an outstanding “fee corresponding to 30 days of use” may be considered to be parked improperly. The person responsible for the plane has 60 days to remove it.

If this does not happen, the aircraft may be considered abandoned and ANA “provisionally decides on the susceptibility of loss in favour of the State”, more specifically for the Federal Revenue Service.