Airport & Airline
Easyjet & Turismo de Portugal celebrates opening of Lisbon base
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- Category: Airport & Airline
- Created on Friday, 27 April 2012 10:01
easyjet & Turismo de Portugal celebrates opening of Lisbon base
easyJet, operator of Europe’s number one air transport network and the second largest airline in Portugal, continues to turn Europe orange with the opening of its 23rd network base located in Lisbon.During an official ceremony on the 19th April, Carolyn McCall, Chief Executive of easyJet, inaugurated the Lisbon base in the presence of the Minister of Economy; Mr Alvaro Santos Pereira, the Secretary of State for Tourism; Mrs Cecilia Meireles, the secretary of State for Transport; Mr Sergio Monteiro and other government, official and industry representatives.
Filipe Silva, UK Director, Turismo de Portugal, said: “The opening of the Lisbon base by easyJet is of significant importance in the continued strengthening of UK and Portugal relations. We’re excited to see that the British airline is committed to offering both business and leisure travellers from the UK the fantastic services easyJet is known for, and we are confident that this new investment will benefit the development of Portugal as a tourism destination.”
This development comes at an exciting time for Portugal. The city of Guimarães is currently the European Capital of Culture, the country’s MICE business is booming, the 2012 World Travel Awards are to be hosted at the Conrad Algarve Resort and Porto was named the best European Destination 2012 at the European Consumer Choice awards.
easyJet, which makes travel easy and affordable for business and leisure passengers, will operate 21 European destinations from Lisbon.
The new easyJet base will increase Portugal’s connectivity with the rest of Europe and will bring to 42 the total number of European destinations operated by the airline to and from Portugal. Currently British travellers can fly from the UK to four Portuguese locations: Lisbon, Porto, Algarve and Madeira.
easyJet expects to carry four million passengers to and from Portugal this year, and the new base will provide a platform for further growth in Portugal in the coming years.
Carolyn McCall, Chief Executive of easyJet, said: “easyJet has carried almost 20m passengers since the beginning of its operations in Portugal in 1998. Today we are proud to open our base in Lisbon. This means we now have local employees living and working here with Portuguese labour contracts and aircraft stationed in Lisbon. This will increase the service we offer to Portuguese business and leisure travellers while bringing in more visitor numbers to Portugal – vital to help stimulate growth in the Portuguese economy. As a long-term committed strategic partner of Portugal, easyJet will make a significant contribution to the local economy as a result of its investment in the market. The base is also a platform for further growth in Portugal in the coming years.”
Javier Gandara, Country Director for Spain and Portugal, said: “easyJet expects to carry 225,000 additional passengers to 2m at Lisbon and 4m to and from Portugal in the first year of operation and grow its passenger numbers still further in the long run. The base strengthens our position of second largest airline in Lisbon and Portugal and our aim now is to become Portuguese business and leisure travellers’ preferred airline. With aircraft stationed locally, it is a key competitive asset to offer a tailored service that fits the local demand in terms of frequencies and destinations”.
