Company now Portugal’s No 3 overall operator
After clinching the 18 daily slots ‘lost’ by TAP, British low-cost airline easyJet has announced it will operate 13 new routes and expand flights to eight destinations from Lisbon.
The airline will be basing “three more Airbus A321neo, the company’s largest aircraft, at its base in Lisbon, which will allow it to launch the new routes “and expand its capacity to eight destinations, operating to 10 countries“.
CEO José Lopes made the announcement yesterday saying “this increase in capacity will make the company the No. 2 operator in the Portuguese capital, allowing us to take a strong step forward in terms of growth at Lisbon airport”.
The new routes will be available as of October of this year, with tickets going on sale as of 18 August.
EasyJet’s new destinations are Bilbao, Barcelona, Valencia, Furteventura, Gran Canaria and Tenerife South (Spain), Toulouse, Marseille and Limoge (France), Birmingham (United Kingdom), Zurich (Switzerland), Milan Bergamo (Italy) and Marrakech (Morocco).
Among destinations that will receive extra flights are Porto Santo (Madeira), Milan Malpensa (Italy), Madrid (Spain) and several cities in France, namely Bordeaux, Lyon and Nantes.
José Lopes also said that in domestic flights, easyJet will be the “only airline to fly regularly to and from Porto Santo during the winter season, with routes from Lisbon and London Gatwick.
“We are extremely pleased to unveil easyJet’s new network at Lisbon airport, which will begin operating from October 30 this year and will make the company the second largest carrier operating at Lisbon airport,” he continued – adding that easyJet is also “particularly happy to bring three A321 neo to Lisbon, which will contribute to making operations even more sustainable”, reducing fuel consumption by 15% and noise during take-off and landing by 50%.
The news means that by the end of this year the British airline will have “19 aircraft based in Portugal“, which will allow it to transport over 10 million passengers per year.
The presentation yesterday heard that the airline that has carried some 69 million passengers to and from Portugal over the past 26 years, will be providing 4.8 million seats for the winter season (between October 2022 and March 2023) in Portugal – an increase of 51% compared to the pre-pandemic period – and expects to carry 10.3 million passengers annually, meaning it will become the “third largest” airline in the country.
Lusa
