In a statement to Lusa, João Pimentel, director of Coriscolândia – Centro de Animação Lúdico-Pedagógico, a branch of Kairós (Cooperative for the Incubation of Solidarity Economy Initiatives), noted that the balloon release “is an event of almost 20 years”, held annually to mark the end of the school year and “has always proceeded normally”.
“Every year we call the airport’s control tower to inform and request permission. And yesterday [Thursday], we called to inform them that today we would release the balloons. They told us it could be done today between 11:00 and 11:25 local time, and that’s what we did”, the Coriscolândia director reported.
According to João Pimentel, prior to the balloon release, Coriscolândia “reestablished contact today” with NAV Portugal – Air Navigation, which “did not express any objection”.
“We are astonished by what is happening”, the director emphasized, adding that he only learned of the situation through posts on “social media”.
João Pimentel also stated that the “around 300 biodegradable balloons” were launched “more than 10 kilometers from the airport”.
“We are very surprised with what happened”, stressed the director of Coriscolândia, which offers a daycare and recreational activities on a leisure occupation basis.
According to RTP/Açores, the airspace of São Miguel was temporarily closed this morning, from 11:21 to 12:30 local time, due to the balloon release, allegedly by children from a daycare.
RTP also reported that the temporary closure of the airspace was for safety reasons, causing several flights to be diverted to Santa Maria and resulting in delays for other connections.
Lusa attempted to obtain information from NAV Portugal but received no response at the time.
