easyJet has launched a promotional campaign to shift 28,000 seats at between €20 and €40.
The British airline said today the promotion will run for seven days and the flights booked must be taken by September 2015.
The company announced this week that it is to establish a new base in Oporto and run four new routes to Bristol, Manchester, London Gatwick and Nantes using two A320 aircraft stationed in Oporto.
Ryanair is expanding its routes from Portugal and is looking for 250 staff to be based in the country but with plenty of scope for travel.
The Irish airline needs 250 new flight attendants, and more support staff at Portuguese airports.
Faro and Barcelona are to be joined again with a new direct flight operated by Vueling next June thus ending a seven year gap.
The new route from the Spanish airline initially will operate only between June and September, with flights twice a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays, but the flight will be extended if there is sufficient demand, according to the President of the Algarve Tourist Board, Desidério Silva.
Silva said the big difference between the Vueling flight and the one offered in 2007 by Ryanair and dropped after two months is that the new flight really does land somewhere near Barcelona, (11 kilomeres away) rather than the Ryanair flight that promised 'Barcelona' but landed 100 kilometres away in Girona.
"The fact that the connection is to El Prat airport makes all the difference," said Silva, with no hint of amusement, adding that the launch of this new route is very important, not only in terms of tourist traffic, but also with regard to the business market which can be developed.
Silva said the new route is a "good indicator" for next summer, at a time when the Spanish market is growing in the Algarve. In the first eight months of the year Spaniards accounted for 26.4% of overnight stays and 28.5% of guests.
The new flight may help to counter the negative effects of recent publicity covering the threat to 300,000 Spanish motorists who have failed to pay motorway tolls in Portugal and now face being hauled over by the police on entry and fined. It is unlikely many of them will risk a return trip, to the Algarve’s financial detriment.
