Noticeboard

EES is err...maybe 12 October 2025

Will the machines be on on Sunday? Officially Portugal says EES comes in on the first day but is this just for Lisbon (who mention it on their website) or the rest of the airport (who dont), we arent sure. The EU says its a phased rollout so it doesn't have to be in place until April 2026. Anyhow, it's nothing to stress about, it will appear at some stage, and when it does, all that happens is when you first go through immigration is instead of handing your passport over for them to look and stamp, you will scan it on a machine and the machine will take your picture and your fingerprints. The first time this happens it will be slower going through the airport with everyone doing this, but after it will be quicker as you will just scan and go.

New Big Boss

Dr. Trindade has retired as CEO, although he is staying as Chairman, and the new CEO is Claudio Santos.

Alex is back

After a summer residence in the Algarve, Alex is back where he belongs. 

AGM 2025 has been

The 2025 AGM came and went, everything passed. The highlights, sorry minutes, will be posted soon.  

Entertainment improvements

A few new things in the entertainment program, Bee Gees alternates on Tuesdays with 70s & 80s Rendezvous, and Elton shares the thursdays with Tribute to Abba with Cristina Barbosa. Cristina Barbosa is also playing Fridays in an acoustic trio.

John has Gone

Well just up the hill. As John's role changed over the last 17 months, the amount of timeshare work he was doing reduced and Ecommerce work increased. Now John has been moved up to the Ecommerce office, which is just up the slope from Reception beside Reservations. Anything he did that wasn't football or golf (he's still doing both) Clare or Cindy are now doing better, apart from Reservations, for which you should go to the new Reservations mini office outside of Atlantida.

Bournemouth and Luton and Edinburgh

Good news is Jet2 are flying to Madeira from Bournemouth in 2025, bad news in summer it's only Thursdays but switches to Mondays in the winter.. Also on Thursdays is a second Edinburgh flight. And just like buses Ryanair has added Sunday and Wednesday Edinburgh. And Luton has gone from famine to feast too, with not one but two new routes as Easyjet and Jet2 are set to battle it out. Easyjet Monday and Friday, Jet2 just Mondays from now. 

Força Maritimo e Nacional

Its all a bit exciting as Maritimo nearly reach the top of the 2nd division and Nacional try to stay off the bottom of the first. Both look likely. Next league games are Maritimo v Leiria October 29 then Pacos Ferreira Nov 9 and John will be going. For Nacional, Nov 1 v Famalicao and Nov 29 v Benfica. There is less than zero hope of getting a ticket for the latter, if you want to go up the hill for the former, John can give you advice but won't be there. 

SAM+EACL+Rodoeste=SIGA and Giro Cards are gone! Wait not they arent (updated now September 2025)

UPDATE- Giro tickets now run out the end of October 2025, and then its pay cash on bus only. However its been extended every month since last September so who knows... On the bus it's now €2, the 10c increase speeding up the journey immensely by eliminating the scramble for change. 

No you are not back at school, Madeira's bus companies have merged into one company, sort of. Gone are the red and white of Rodoeste, and the green of SAM, and gone are their buses too with 127 brand new buses. Also gone are the myriad of prices, with one set fare for outside of Funchal being €2.60 on the bus. Prepaid prices will be less with giro cards but this is very delayed.

Although Horarios do Funchal are also part of the new network, their buses remain yellow with the Horarios do Funchal (HF) branding but with a SIGA logo on the bus.