Porto Airport continues to increase the number of handled direct routes

Porto Airport continues to increase new direct routes operated as it is a viable and competitive airport. As stated previously by TAP, Emirates, Finnair and Ryanair.

This time round it is the airliner EasyJet that has announced that it will strengthen flight connections to Porto Airport starting this summer. According to Publituris, the information was released by the low cost airline and it represents a 15% enhancement.

"The most frequently sought routes from Porto will have added capacity, namely destinations as Ibiza, increased in 53%, Luxemburg will have an increased capacity of 47%, Zurich routes will expand as far as 76% and Funchal with an increase of over 40% capacity", reads the statement released by EasyJet.

Also, summer destinations will see an increase in flight frequencies as much as six flights per week to Funchal and EasyJet will fly to Ibiza also in the shoulder season.

As stated by Publituris, José Lopes, director for EasyJet Portugal, affirmed that the airliner "continues to rely on the 65 routes that it operates in Portugal and this is the reason why the operations from Porto are enhanced in 15% starting in the summer of 2020".

New airliners have already strengthened their operations in Porto, and others, like TAP, the Portuguese flagship carrier, announced new routes to the city.

This is a different approach by the carrier that in a recent past had cancelled most of the operations in Porto International Airport. A situation that was strongly criticised by Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira.

TAP increased flight operations in Porto, operating direct flights between Porto and São Paulo, in Brazil, with three weekly flights, every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Also, TAP strengthened air links between Porto and New York/Newark, offering not two but six weekly flights, operated by the Airbus A321 Long Range.

This increase in flight operation from Porto by TAP represents a total of 288 flight frequencies per week.

Moreover, the new routes that TAP opened from Porto to Brussels, Lyon and Munich, in 2019, represent a 34% increase in direct flights from Porto to Europe, compared to the previous year.

Emirates and Finnair also started operations in Porto Airport. For the first time, Emirates introduced Porto as a new destination in its global network, as of 2 July 2019, offering four weekly flights, operated by a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in a three class cabin configuration, featuring eight private suites in first class, 42 business class seats and 310 economy class seats.

"Porto is currently enjoying increased levels of tourism, which is also reflective of the growth in the number of visitors to Portugal as a whole," declared Sir Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline.

Another debut was Finnair, as the airliner flied directly to Porto in the summer of 2019.

The carrier EasyJet opened the Porto-Malaga route, offering four weekly flights, from 2 April and 26 October. This is the third route to be announced this year alone, following the routes of Faro-Manchester, Porto-Nice and Lisbon-Manchester. On 16 June the airliner will launch the Porto-Bordeaux route.

Volotea is on the market as well, as it offers direct flights from Porto to Bilbao, starting April 2019, every Thursdays and Sundays.

Air France also strengthened the air links between Paris and Porto, at the peak of the season, totalling 14 flights per week.

Airliner Wizz Air operates three weekly flights from Porto to London and Ryanair added Brest route to its network, with two weekly flights from Porto to that French city.

Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air, headquartered in Budapest, which serves many cities across Europe, is betting in Porto for the company's network expansion, with the Porto -London route scheduled to start on 2 July 2019. This new airline route will offer three flights per week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and tickets are already available on the company's website.

Also, Ryanair, the Irish low-cost airline headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland, provides two flights per week to Brest, France, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, starting in April 2019.

Moreover, Ryanair launched six new routes from Porto, which started in the summer of 2019, to Seville, Alicante, Brive, Cagliari, Marrakesh and Venice (Treviso).