Porto, Portugal, May 28, 2025 (Lusa) - The low-cost airline easyJet has carried 23 million passengers in 18 years of operation at Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport in Porto, becoming the second largest airline operating at that airport.
At a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the base at Porto airport, the Country Manager of easyJet pointed out that creating that structure was a "right decision" that stemmed from the "economic dynamism" of the region.
The company currently has six aircraft based at Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport, operating another five non-based aircraft, flying to 27 routes in 12 countries (including Cabo Verde) and employing around 300 people.
"On 26 March 2015, we reinforced our commitment to this dynamic region with the opening of a base at Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport. The decision to establish a base here in Porto was a strategic move by easyJet," said José Lopes.
He recalled that Porto airport "competed with many other destinations’, but easyJet made a ‘bet on the economic strength of this region, its business dynamism and tourism, its people, and it was an easy and sure bet".
Setting up the base in Porto "was an investment decision that was easy to make and a success because Porto as a region, and Porto airport is not just Porto, it is the whole of northern Portugal, it is the centre of northern Portugal and also Galicia and even Castile and León, it is a very important centre in terms of the development of business tourism, which is extremely important to us," he said.
Ten years later, easyJet operates 56 daily flights to and from Porto, will open a new route for the summer to Split, Croatia, and already has "new developments for the winter" in the pipeline, to be announced in July.
José Lopes stressed that easyJet "is currently the second largest airline at Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport", pointing out that one of the advantages of the airport's location is that "it allows us to serve the entire Portuguese community living throughout Europe".
"We are leaders in Switzerland and this is part of our work to enable these people to visit their families and be visited more often," he said.
"The initial intention was to launch operations with two aircraft and then grow according to market opportunities and today, a decade later, when we look at what has been done, we look back with pride and satisfaction," he explained.
He said that "the company has grown from six to almost 30 destinations, in an increasingly diversified network, and this connectivity has contributed to creating very strong social and economic impacts in the region, in the territory, particularly through tourism".
"For every million spent by tourists, 35 jobs are created in the region," he recalled.
Asked about the impact of the upgrade work at Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport on the company's operations, José Lopes said that ‘these are growing pains’.
"At easyJet, we try to see things as a glass half full. It is a necessary growing pain to equip this airport with all the technological requirements so that we can grow again, with better quality and provide a better service to our passengers," he said.
At the same ceremony, the CEO of the country's airports managing company, ANA Aeroportos de Portugal, Thierry Ligonnière, pointed out that easyJet "has invested in the potential" of the airport and the entire region.
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