Ryanair today announced the opening of 18 new routes in Portugal, Porto and Faro next summer, and welcomed the regulator’s intervention which has resulted in a reduction in the fees charged by ANA at those airports.

In a virtual press conference, the CEOs of Ryanair Group, Michael O’Leary, and the airline, Eddie Wilson, imbued with the zeitgeist, announce ‘Christmas gifts for Portugal’, with the opening of seven new routes. From Faro and 11 from Porto next year.

According to officials, the decision came “in direct response to ANAC’s intervention [Autoridade Nacional da Aviação Civil]which forced ANA to reduce airport fees in Porto and Faro next year.

Thus, each of these airports will have two additional planes from the low-cost carrier.

According to the carrier, the decision represents an additional investment of 400 million euros in Portugal and the creation of 120 new local jobs.

However, the Irish airline lamented that the regulator “was unable to convince ANA to reduce fees at other airports” and therefore “there will be no further growth in Lisbon, Madeira and the Azores” in 2023.

Eddie Wilson defended: “Lisbon prices have gone up by an incredible 12%, and we have to reverse that hike, as in Porto and Faro. Lower prices lead to more planes, more jobs, more connectivity and more tourism.”

From Faro, Ryanair will also fly to Aarhus (Denmark), Belfast (Northern Ireland), Exeter (England), Frankfurt Hahn (Germany), Rome Fiumicino (Italy) and Toulouse (France).

From Porto, new routes were opened to Bristol, Leeds (England), Castellón (Spain), Maastricht (Netherlands), Nimes, Strasbourg (France), Shannon (Ireland), Stockholm (Sweden), Trapani, Turin (Italy)) and Wroclaw (Poland).

“In addition to excessive fees, another threat to Portugal’s tourism growth comes in the form of ETS fees [taxas ambientais]which unfairly targets short-haul flights, with the inclusion of external regions of the European Union, including Madeira, recently proposed, as early as 2024,” Michael O’Leary noted.

For the airline’s captain, if the measure is approved, “tourists will face higher costs when visiting Madeira, relative to other non-European holiday destinations, meaning the island could potentially lose visitors to non-EU destinations, such as Morocco, Turkey and Jordan, which are exempt.” of paying ETS.”