Ryanair today announced the schedule for the summer, to and from Portugal, with 15 more new routes, for a total of 165, which include destinations such as Bari (Italy), Billund (Denmark), Madeira and Paris (France), hoping to grow for 11.5 million passengers transported.
The executive chairman (CEO) of the Irish airline, Michael O’Leary, said he expected growth in Madeira, Porto, this summer, and in Faro the official said he estimated that the operation in that period would be better than in 2019.
“We hope to see a major recovery in traffic,” said the official.
Ryanair understands that the release of ‘slots’ should happen in the summer and recalled that it invested 700 million euros in Lisbon airport, this winter, with seven planes, adding that it is willing to continue investing in the summer, “as long as the Government Portuguese demand that TAP release some of the unused ‘slots’ by the end of February.
Otherwise, in March, Ryanair will be “forced” to withdraw three aircraft from Humberto Delgado airport.
The Irish airline defended that the release of ‘slots’ is a way of “promoting competition, growth and safeguarding routes and jobs in Lisbon” and that, thus, it could bring another million passengers to Lisbon this year.