Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, today (23 June) announced a strong traffic recovery on its Portuguese flights across Ryanair’s European network of 37 countries. Families all over Europe are booking a much-delayed summer break in Portugal, with British, French, German and Italian families among the most eager to fly to Faro, Lisbon, Porto, Ponta Delgada and Terceira.

Ryanair’s Portuguese Summer ’21 schedule will deliver over 600 weekly flights across 122 routes, including 3 new routes to Lisbon from Cologne (2 weekly), Faro from Belfast (daily) & Teesside (2w). With over $2bn worth of aircraft at its 4 Portuguese bases, Ryanair continues to invest in year round connectivity, jobs and tourists for Portugal, and expects the successful rollout of vaccinations across Europe to deliver a much-needed tourism & jobs recovery in Portugal following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ryanair is extremely proud of its huge contribution to Portuguese tourism, where millions of citizens enjoy Ryanair’s low fares and the economic growth these bring to the regions, with thousands of jobs and tourism recovery. With Lisbon now at full capacity, Ryanair calls on the Portuguese Govt to open Montijo airport where Ryanair will invest more new aircraft and create thousands of additional jobs.

To celebrate the start of a strong Portuguese summer 2021 recovery, Ryanair has launched a 100,000 seat sale at prices from just €19.99 for travel until 31^st October, which must be booked by midnight, Thursday 24^th June on the Ryanair.com website.

Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary said:

“Portugal is Europe’s best visitor destination so it’s no surprise that it’s one of the fastest recovering markets across Ryanair’s network. We are delighted to bring millions of European families to the beaches and cities of Faro, Ponta Delgada, Terceira, Lisbon and Porto this summer, which will be crucial for Portugal’s rapid post-Covid recovery.

While TAP is soaking up over €3 billion of State aid subsidies but cutting fleet, jobs and traffic, Ryanair without State aid, is growing routes, traffic and jobs in Portugal, while paying over €130m annually in Govt taxes and fees. It is imperative that the Portuguese Govt urgently opens Montijo airport to allow for capacity growth at a time when Portugal needs to recover traffic and connectivity lost by TAP and the pandemic. Ryanair will continue to grow and create thousands of additional jobs, while Portuguese citizens enjoy even more choice and lower fares from Portugal.

To celebrate the strong recovery of our Portuguese network, Ryanair has launched a seat sale with seats from just €19.99 for travel until 31^st October, which must be booked by midnight, Thursday 24^th June on the Ryanair.com website. Since these amazing low fares will be snapped up quickly, customers should log onto www.ryanair.com and avoid missing out.”