The LCC expects to fly just a quarter of its normal schedule over the coming months although looking ahead to next summer and two new seasonal bases will open in Spain and Portugal.
TAP Air Portugal is resuming flights to North America later this week, with New York the first destination to make its way back onto the airline’s schedule. Three new routes will also be added to its schedule from July 1.
This year’s summer schedule from Faro Airport was its largest ever with a massive 21.6 per cent increase in departure capacity versus summer 2015 and published schedules for next year already show a forecasted 2.9 per cent rise in departure seats on this year to over 3.5 million seats, with additional flights still expected to be added to airline flight inventories.
The UK Government’s Regional Air Connectivity Fund was launched last year as a way of encouraging new routes to and from UK regional airports and improving connectivity for business and leisure travellers.
At airport management company, ANA - Aeroportos de Portugal, the positive fortunes of the country are clear to see. The Portuguese business group responsible for the management of airports in Mainland Portugal, in the Azores and Madeira, as well as facilities in other countries, handled 38.9 million passengers across its Portugal network in 2015, up 11.4 per cent on the previous year. All airports within the ANA Group reported record annual results during 2015.
The new routes will launch from May 28, 2016 and will operate on a weekly schedule with flights to Ibiza, Malaga and Palma on Saturdays and Faro on Sundays. These are all markets currently served by BA from at least two other London airports – City and Heathrow, while Ibiza, Faro and Malaga are also served from Gatwick.
The Barcelona-headquartered carrier, established by the original founders of Vueling, has developed bases in France, Italy and Spain after first launching flights in April 2012 from Marco Polo Airport in Venice, Italy using a fleet of Boeing 717-200s. It arrived in the Bordeaux market in 2012 and based on this month’s schedules the city’s Mérignac Airport now the fifth largest point in its network and second largest in France after Nantes Atlantique Airport.
Faro Airport is located in the Algarve, in the southwest of Europe, and provides access to a growing market of airlines and destinations, currently operating to 69 destinations in 15 countries. Famous for providing access to the sustained leisure travel market of the Algarve, Faro Airport is also the gateway to the coastal city of Huelva, another important Spanish tourist destination.
The latest development builds on Flybe's growing network of bases, including Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Manchester and Southampton, showing the airline's commitment to improving connectivity across and from the UK.
The ANA airport group which is responsible for the management of airports in Mainland Portugal including Lisbon, Porto, Faro and the Beja civilian terminal, as well as airports in the Azores and Madeira Autonomous Regions, recorded a growth of 9.5 percent in commercial passenger traffic in 2014 compared to the previous year.
This year’s route successes at Lisbon Airport are already having an impact on its traffic performance. In its latest traffic results for August 2014 passenger demand rose 15.2 per cent to 1.96 million to bring year to date numbers above the 12 million passenger threshold.
