British low-cost airline easyJet will inaugurate its new base at Faro Airport on Tuesday (June 15) at 1pm.
The event will be attended by Minister of State, Economy and Digital Transition, Pedro Siza Vieira and Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Pedro Nuno Santos, as well as easyJet CEO, Johan Lundgren, and Vinci Airports CEO, Nicolas Notebaert.
Last March, easyjet’s Country Manager for Portugal told TSF radio that three Airbus A319 planes would be stationed at the new base, linking the Algarvian capital to 18 destinations.
The base is due to be manned by around 100 employees. However, no new employees were expected to be hired, with staff due to be transferred from other easyJet bases such as those in Lisbon and Porto, and even other countries, including Germany, France and the UK.
The move allowed easyjet, which last year reduced its workforce by around 30%, to transfer some of the affected employees to the Algarve, easing the impact of its layoffs.
The airline believes, however, that the opening of the base will have a ‘snowball’ effect in the region, helping create more indirect jobs in the hotel and transportation sectors.
