From Faro to Lyon for le weekend will be possible from next April as easyJet announced another new route, one of three from the formerly 'low-cost' airline which aims to hit the ‘5 million passengers to Portugal’ milestone in 2016.
The Faro to Lyon option is but one new rote with Oporto-Funchal and Lisbon-Nantes soon to be added to the schedule.
easyJet also is strengthening its operation in Oporto with the placement of a third aircraft, thus creating 40 new jobs at the airport. This is to enable the company to increase the number of flights on the new Funchal route and others.
According to José Lopes, the commercial director of easyJet in Portugal, the arrival of the third aircraft at Oporto, an A320, means new pilots and cabin crew, plus 40 direct jobs, to service the new direct link to Funchal, Madeira with four flights per week and increased frequencies on existing routes.
The company expects to exceed five million passengers transported in 2016, an increase of 700,000 over 2015, if achieved.
In the next financial year, easyJet expects to grow 9% in Lisbon, 18% in Funchal, 7.6% in the Algarve, an impressive 40% in Oporto and 149% in Ponta Delgada in the Açores during the first full year of operation following the opening up of the rote to competition.
The Oporto-Funchal route will begin on May 20th next year, while Lisbon-Nantes and Faro-Lyon routes will start in mid-April bringing the total number of routes to 51.
José Lopes said that the programme for the summer "is not yet finalised" and may undergo some finishing touches.
