“For customers, what matters is more connectivity, more choice and great prices and, therefore, we are really happy to have 27 new routes that we are launching for the next summer season” from Portugal, said easyJet director for the European market, Thomas Haagensen.

Among these routes for the summer aviation season, which begins next Sunday, are new direct connections between Lisbon and Bastia (Corsica), Mallorca, Ibiza, Menorca, Barcelona, Birmingham, among others, as well as from Porto to Funchal or to Porto Santo.

“In the past, there was no direct connection to places like Bastia or Menorca, for example, […] so we are very pleased with this expansion”, observed Thomas Haagensen, qualifying Portugal as “an important market” and “a great destination for customers in Europe”, namely France, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Some of these new routes will be operated in the 18 daily 'slots' of TAP at Lisbon airport that the European Commission assigned to easyJet after imposition to approve the flagship airline's restructuring plan.

“Having these 18 additional 'slots' helped us to consolidate this position, but by being the second airline, it is also improving the experience of our customers when moving from terminal two [at Lisbon airport] to terminal one, which is an important step for us,” said Thomas Haagensen.

Asked about the financial results of this additional operation in Lisbon of the 18 'slots' that belonged to TAP, which started last November, Thomas Haagensen said it was "too early" to assess.

The British low-cost airline is present in 37 European countries and 150 airports, where it operates more than 1,000 routes with 320 aircraft throughout Europe, with a total of almost 14,000 employees across the network and 69.7 million of passengers transported in 2022.

easyJet arrived in Portugal in 1998, where today it has more than 830 employees and three bases (in Lisbon, Porto and Faro) to operate 89 routes with more than 30 planes (19 of which are based in the country), being the second airline with greater presence in the country, with a total of 7.4 million passengers transported in 2022.

easyJet has an availability of 11.2 million seats to and from Portugal.