TREBLING MAINTENANCE CAPACITY & DOUBLING HIGH-SKILL JOBS

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (Tues, 10 Nov) inaugurated its new €40M maintenance facility at Porto Airport. The new 4,900 sqm state-of-the-art 2-bay line maintenance hangar and component workshops adds to Ryanair’s existing 1-bay facility at Porto Airport, trebling the airline’s current maintenance capacity (1 bay to 3 bays). It will also create over 150 new highly skilled engineering, mechanic and apprenticeship roles in the Norte Region, providing specialist training and long-term career opportunities for local talent needed to support Ryanair’s operation as the airline’s fleet grows to over 800 aircraft and 300M passengers by 2034.

Ryanair is one of Portugal’s most significant overseas investors and a key contributor to the country’s tourism industry, carrying more than 14M passengers to/from Portugal each year and supporting over 12,000 jobs across the country. Today’s announcement is the latest in a longline of Ryanair investments throughout Portugal, including its 30 aircraft ($3BN investment) across its 4 Portuguese bases (Porto, Faro, Lisbon, & Madeira), Ryanair Travel Labs centres in both Porto and Lisbon, which support over 50 specialist tech roles, and its more than €2M investment in the Renature Monchique reforestation project, which has supported the replanting of over 600,000 trees to restore the Serra de Monchique mountain range following the devastating wildfires in 2018.

Ryanair CEO, Eddie Wilson, said:

“As Europe’s No.1 airline, Ryanair is pleased to open our new €40 million maintenance facility at Porto Airport, expanding our existing maintenance facility from 1 to 3 bays and creating over 150 new highly skilled engineering, mechanic, and apprenticeship jobs for the Norte Region.

This investment is about much more than expanding hangar capacity. Ryanair is creating an employment market that will drive economic growth across the Norte Region for years to come. Ryanair has already established partnerships with over 10 Portuguese universities, polytechnics, vocational schools and Part-147 training organisations to foster the local talent here in Porto to meet this significant job creation as we grow to 800 aircraft and 300 million passengers p.a. by 2034.

Ryanair is one of Portugal’s most significant overseas investors, carrying over 14 million passengers to/from Portugal each year and supporting over 12,000 jobs throughout the country, with 30 aircraft based across Porto, Faro, Lisbon and Madeira, industry-leading IT innovation hubs in Porto and Lisbon, and our longstanding investment in the Renature Monchique reforestation project.  We are proud to deepen our partnership with Portugal, delivering this incredible new state-of-the-art maintenance infrastructure, and playing our part in developing a sustainable pipeline of skilled aviation professionals who will support Ryanair’s continued growth for decades to come.”