Faro airport is bracing itself for another boost in air traffic this summer as operator ANA is predicting 8.4 million passenger movements for the year.
This summer there will be 11 new routes and 15 new regular services in and out of Faro airport including Budapest, Dresden, Erfurt, Gothenburg, Lille, Muenster, Newquay, Nice, Warsaw, Maastricht and Ostend.
The 17% rise in the supply of seats to and from the Algarve represents an increase of 1 million seats when compared to the Summer of 2016.
This summer, Faro Airport will be connected to more than a hundred airports in 20 countries, and will be served by more than 50 scheduled airlines with the United Kingdom, Germany and France heading the field.
Thirty airports in the United Kingdom will have flights to Faro and these passengers will account for more than 50% of the total number of tourists travelling to the Algarve by air this year.
German tourists are not far behind and will account for 26% of the total this year, their numbers boosted by the addition of three new routes - Dresden, Erfurt and Munster.
Another highlight is Ryanair now flying to Frankfurt every day. The Irish operator will be competing against Lufthansa and TUI on this route, come the summertime.
The increase in the French market is being matched by routes to and from ten destinations with Lille and Nice opening up and four regular routes opening to Bordeaux, Marseille and Nantes by Volotea, and Paris by EasyJet.
Work to expand the airport is behind schedule but the investment, at these predicted passenger volumes, will be recouped by the French owned operator, ANA, earlier than planned.
Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado airport is approaching its capactity of 23 million passengers per year and with tourism on the increase, this level will be reached in the summer of 2018 with TAP, Ryanair and easyJet planning to increase the number of routes in and out of Lisbon.
The success of Lisbon will bring severe passenger capacity problems this summer and the addition of Montijo, which the government wants to see operating in 2018, will ease the pressure on the capital’s airport.
The 2018 deadline is unachievable and the years of dithering over a second airport for Lisbon will cause problems as Portugal is well on the road of becoming a top European tourist destination.
How does Faro's planned passenger volume compare to UK airports'?
London Heathrow – 75.3 million passengers per year
London Gatwick – 42.5m
Manchester – 25.1m
London Stansted – 24.1m
London Luton – 14.3m
Edinburgh – 12.2
Birmingham – 11.4m
Glasgow – 9.2m
Bristol – 7.5m
Belfast International – 5m
