The low cost airline Ryanair already runs operations from Lisbon airport but now wants to put the Portuguese capital 'on the map, making it a top destination in Europe for 'city breaks.'
"Let's put Lisbon on the map. The Portuguese capital will be the number one destination in Europe for 'city breaks' due to our low fares,” according to the Director of Marketing and Sales for Ryanair in Portugal, Luis Fernandez-Mellado who believes that Ryanair can grow and create new traffic at Portela airport.
Today flights began to and from Stansted, Charleroi (Brussels), Beauvais (Paris) and Hahn (Frankfurt) and from April 2014, to and from Dublin.
"We felt that when we were not in Lisbon the company was losing a huge amount of passengers originating in Portugal, but we also hope to create a demand that does not currently exist," said Fernandez-Mellado.
In the first year of operation in Lisbon at current capacity Ryanair aims to carry 400,000 passengers, a number already planned when operations started in September.
Luis Fernandez-Mellado said the company anticipates that Lisbon is the more balanced airport in Portugal, i.e. the airport which has the same level of activity over the year, as opposed to highly seasonal Faro where Ryanair has its other base and where it has been involved in a dipute with the Portuguese Tourist Board over landing subsidies for flights arriving in the off season.
The deal at Portela airport has allowed the airline, notoriously adept at screwing one-sided deals from desperate airport operators, tourist boards and local councils, to establish a “satisfactory cost base” and it is now looking at connections to Italy, Poland, Scandinavia, Holland and France.
Fernandez-Mellado said that Ryanair has no specific timetable for operations at Lisbon airport as it depends on the delivery of new aircraft and the allocating of their useage.
Ryanair has been in Portugal since 2003 and now that its much reviled leader Michael O’Leary is reported to be taking a backward step it may not be too late to win back customers.
