EasyJet Confirms Lisbon Airport Base For 2012

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The budget airline EasyJet has signaled its intention to establish a base at Portela Airport in Lisbon in 2012 by signing a memorandum of understanding with the Portuguese government. The airline had hoped to have the Portela base, its 23rd in Europe, open by December 2011, but this was delayed by the general elections held in April.

Signed last week, the agreement contains EasyJet's pledge to set up its new base at Portela and to have it open for business by April 2012, at a cost of 300 million Euros. The launch date has been tentatively set for 19 April of 2012 and once the base is open, it will add five new routes to EasyJet's offerings; to Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Venice, Bordeaux and Asturias. Consumers will be able to purchase seats for flights to these destinations starting Thursday, 10 November.

A Portuguese EasyJet spokesperson has informed the Portugal News that EasyJet has pledged to create 100 jobs in Lisbon as a result of the new base, largely pilots and cabin crew. The airline will also have a minimum of two A319 aircraft based at Portela Airport on a permanent basis. The airline projects that the new base will permit EasyJet to carry as many as 225,000 additional passengers in the first year after opening the new base. In a statement, EasyJet stated states that travelers will now have more destinations to choose from, with 21 routes from Lisbon and more flights, with 150 departures weekly in the peak season.

More frequent flights, including early morning departures will also be available in order to provide Portuguese business travelers the ability to make same-day round trips to destinations including Copenhagen and Amsterdam. In addition, the new base will help boost the local economy in Lisbon by indirectly creating other jobs, including positions as baggage handlers at Portela airport and jobs in the local tourism sector.

EasyJet's Customer and Revenue Director, Catherine Lynn, has stated that the airline is pleased to confirm the new Lisbon base, which she speaks of as evidence of EasyJet's dedication to the Portuguese market and predicts will enable the airline to grow its overall operations. The new base will increase the number of visitors to Lisbon, with a projected two million arrivals and departures in Lisbon and a projected four million in Portugal as a whole traveling on EasyJet flights during the first year of operation.

The initial announcement that EasyJet would establish a base at Portela happened last October; a ceremony was held at Portela Airport, with then-Prime Minister José Sócrates and Lisbon's Mayor, António Costa, in attendance.

EasyJet's new routes will begin operating in April, with four weekly departures to Amsterdam, Asturias and Bordeaux; there will also be three departures per week to Venice and Copenhagen. This is in addition to EasyJet's current routes from Lisbon, which include flights to Basel (Basel - Mulhouse - Freiburg airport), Barcelona, Berlin, Bristol, Edinburgh, London (Luton and Gatwick airports), Geneva, Madeira, Liverpool, Madrid, Paris (Charles de Gaulle airport), Milan (Malpensa airport), Toulouse and Rome (Fumicino airport).


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