Lisbon, March 13, 2025 (Lusa) - Faro airport, in Portugal's Algarve region, will have 86 routes to 75 destinations from the summer, including direct flights to New York, Helsinki and Reykjavik, ANA - the country's airports operator told Lusa on Thursday.
The reinforcement of air connections from Gago Coutinho airport includes routes to three new markets: the United States, specifically New York via United Airlines from May, Finland with flights to Helsinki operated by Finnair and Iceland with connections to Reykjavik by Play, the new Icelandic low cost airline.
With this addition, the Algarve's connectivity now extends to 22 international markets.
In the summer of 2025, an average of 821 weekly flights is expected, an increase of 8% in the average number of weekly flights compared to the summer last year, ANA - Aeroportos de Portugal, the national airport management company said in a statement.
In the summer, connectivity to the main hubs will total 147 weekly flights to London (UK), 51 to Dublin (Ireland), 30 to Paris (France), 27 to Lisbon, 22 to Amsterdam (Netherlands) and 17 to Frankfurt (Germany).
To support the growth in traffic, ANA is implementing a programme of investments in infrastructure and technology, covering all the airports under its management. At Faro, the work to replace the roof, which is still underway, corresponds to a total investment of around €17.3 million.
"In order to increase the passenger processing area at the arrival border control, a new disembarkation area was created for arriving passengers whose origin requires border control to enter the Schengen area," explains the national airport manager.
In 2024, ANA saw record growth in traffic at all its airports, with almost 70 million passengers, an increase of 4.3% on the previous year.
In the case of Faro, the airport registered 9.8 million passengers in 2024, an increase of 2%.
In addition, it registered "a new record in the 2024 winter season, with a 38% increase in seat capacity compared to the winter of 2019 (+6% compared to 2023)", according to the company led by Thierry Ligonnière.
SCR/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
