For a minister, this Tuesday was a "good day". For another, it was “an important day”. All because the new (seasonal) base of EasyJet was inaugurated at the Airport of Faro, in addition to having announced five new routes from the Algarve capital: Luxembourg, Munich, Lille, Toulouse and Zurich.
And, to mark such a special day, government officials did not miss: Pedro Nuno Santos, Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Pedro Siza Vieira, Minister of State, Economy and Digital Transition, Rita Marques, Secretary of State for Tourism, and Hugo Santos Mendes, Assistant Secretary of State and Communications, headed to Faro to "thank you" for this investment by the airline "at a time of great difficulty".
This «crisis, one of the biggest ever», was recalled by Johan Lundgren, CEO of Easyjet, who stressed that the company wants to «play a role in the recovery» of the tourism sector in the Algarve.
All this, with the help of the Portuguese Government, with whom the low-cost maintains "very good relations".
The same cannot be said of the relationship between Minister Pedro Nuno Santos and another airline based in Faro: Ryanair. And, despite the event being by Easyjet, the government official, without mentioning the name of the low-cost Michael O'Leary's Irish, was keen to mark the differences, between the two brands, in the eyes of the Government.
«Easyjet has an excellent relationship with Portugal. It is a company that respects labor legislation: it does not have conflicts with unions and, therefore, we have a relationship of mutual respect», he highlighted.
There was also talk of TAP that continues to just call Faro to an Airport: Lisbon. The minister justified: "TAP does in Portugal what other flag companies do throughout Europe: "hub" connections and then long-haul flights."
Therefore, continued Pedro Nuno Santos, Easyjet's investment in the Algarve is so important and will pay off. «The investment is cautious and three planes are going to stay here for now. However, I am sure that the operation will grow».
Pedro Siza Vieira, for his part, also thanked this «Easyjet's bet that allows to attract, from now on, visitors at a critical moment for the region», not least because, for the time being, Brits… there are few.
To compensate, he told reporters, “what we have to do is ensure that we continue to diversify the supply as we've been doing in recent years. In this sense, it was very important that we heard Easyjet here today announce five more routes from Faro, to five more European destinations that allow us to bring visitors from other places».
With these five Easyjet routes, the company starts calling Faro – during the summer – to 26 destinations: Amsterdam, Basel, Belfast, Berlin Brandenburg, Bordeaux, Bristol, Geneva, Glasgow, Liverpool, London Gatwick, London Luton, Lyon, Manchester, Milan MXP, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Paris Orly, Luxembourg , Munich, Lille, Toulouse and Zurich.
As for jobs, this base – which will operate between March and October – represents the creation of 100 jobs. However, employees were transferred from other company bases.
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