LOW COST airline Ryanair demonstrated “courage and vision” according to António Pina, president of Algarve Tourism, as the company announced four new winter routes to Faro airport.
Daniel de Carvalho, communications director of Ryanair, revealed the new winter destinations from the Irish airline in the presence of airport officials and Algarve tourism representatives including the director of the Algarve Tourism Association, Daniel Quirós.
The new routes launched on October 28, to Liverpool, East Midlands, Glasgow Prestwick and Dusseldorf Weeze take the total number of Ryanair destinations to and from Faro airport up to nine.
António Pina told The Resident: “Congratulations to Ryanair for introducing four new routes to the region. This is not an easy thing to do at this time and is especially courageous to implement this in the winter months.”
Francisco Vieira Pita, head of marketing at Faro airport, added: “Ryanair have shown their commitment to the Algarve by introducing four new routes to Faro airport. This should also go someway towards levelling the disparity between the seasons experienced at the airport, making Faro Airport a popular choice throughout the year.”
There was a clear unity between tourism entities at the press conference on Tuesday, demonstrating the joint efforts by all involved to secure the new winter routes.
“It is important to note how decisive the cooperation between the airport and the local and national tourism promotional bodies has been for the opening of these new services,” said Francisco Vieira Pita.
Tourism boost
The importance of the new routes as a positive boost to tourism in the region was highlighted by Daniel de Carvalho. He told The Resident: “To date, Ryanair has transported more than 670,000 passengers to Faro. This demonstrates the continuing success and growth of the Algarve, contributing to an increase in employment and tourism income for the region.”
The new schedule sees flights to Liverpool every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday leaving Faro at 8.10pm, to Nottingham (East Midlands) every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 7.40pm and to Glasgow Prestwick every Wednesday and Saturday at 10.05am. To promote the new routes, Ryanair put one million tickets on sale over the internet at just one euro each, plus taxes, an offer that ended yesterday.
For further information about Ryanair, please visit their website at www.ryanair.com
