easyJet celebrated the opening of its new base at Francisco de Sá Carneiro Airport Porto.
Three new UK routes from Manchester, Bristol and London Luton Airports to the new Porto base will launch this summer.
Carolyn McCall, Chief Executive of easyJet, cut the inaugural ribbon during today’s official ceremony at the new Porto base in the presence of Minister of Finance, Maria Luís Albuquerque, Secretary of State for Infrastructures, Transport and Communication, Sérgio Silva Monteiro, Secretary of State for Tourism, Adolfo Mesquita Nunes, VINCI’s President Nicolas Notebaert.
Flights from Bristol to Porto will commence on 19 April and operate on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Manchester flights to Porto will launch on 24 May and London Luton flights to Porto will commence on 26 April.
Carolyn McCall, Chief Executive of easyJet, said:
“Portugal is a really important market for easyJet. We have been flying to and from Portugal for 18 years and today represents another important milestone in our history.”
“We are really pleased to demonstrate our long-term commitment to Portugal with the opening of our second Portuguese base, following the launch of our Lisbon base in 2012.”
“Establishing a base in Porto will create 80 new easyJet jobs, fully under Portuguese labour contracts, and support many more new jobs at the airport and in the surrounding region. As importantly it will enable easyJet to increase the region’s connectivity with the rest of Europe and to make travel easy and affordable for those who wish to fly to and from this wonderful city.”
Maria Luís Albuquerque, Portugal Minister of Finance, said:
“The opening of an easyJet base in Porto is yet another sign that the Portuguese economy is steadily recovering and becoming an increasingly attractive destination for investment. The establishment of new routes will certainly favour the tourism sector, but also facilitate business relations between Portugal and Europe, thus contributing to a deeper integration. Most importantly, this new base will lead to job creation, which is the ultimate goal of our country’s ongoing efforts.”
Porto is the 25th base of easyJet’s network and the airline will also inaugurate its 26th base in Amsterdam on March 31. easyJet started its operations in Portugal in 1999 and flies now to 48 destinations in Europe being the third largest airline in the country with 12% market share and more than 4 million passengers carried in 2014. easyJet flies to Faro, Funchal, Porto and Lisbon and from 29 March a service will start connecting the capital with Ponta Delgada in Azores.