Why Porto Airport is a world class airport

The Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport, in Porto, in the North of Portugal, was, once again, voted the best in Europe in 2018, in the category of five to 15 million passengers by Airports Council International.

This information was released by ANA/VINCI Airports, the concessionary company of the Portuguese Airports infrastructure, which recalls that Porto Airport offers excellent accessibilities, direct flights to 79 cities and an outstanding service.

In 2017, Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport was elected second best in Europe in the category of over two million passengers per year.

ACI Europe represents more than 1960 airports in 176 countries, and is in charge of handling over 90 percent of commercial air traffic in Europe and processes more than 1.9 billion passengers annually.

The prize was awarded based on a passenger survey, assessing topics such as waiting times, staff courtesy, cleanliness and comfort within the airport premises.

The election comes as part of a study that assesses passenger satisfaction in 34 indicators, namely, services offered by airports, service quality, waiting times, staff courtesy, cleanliness and comfort.

"It was with immense proud that we received the news that we were, once again, chosen by our passengers as one of the best airports in Europe. This is our 12th award in the past thirteen years, which firmly establishes Porto Airport's higher levels of international excellence; also, Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport reached 11.9 million passengers in 2018, a 10.7% growth compared to the previous year", declared Thierry Ligonnière, Executive President of ANA Aeroportos de Portugal to News Agency Lusa.

New routes open at Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport, in Porto

New airliners strengthen their operation in Porto, and others, like TAP, the Portuguese flagship carrier, announce new routes to the city.

In a statement to TSF Radio Station, TAP President Antonoaldo Neves revealed that he wants to strengthen TAP operations in Porto by establishing a mini-hub. This is a different approach by the carrier that in a recent past had cancelled most of the operations in Porto International Airport. A situation that was strongly criticised by Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira.

Antonoaldo Neves wants to take advantage of the fact that Porto Airport is not a congested airport. "This is the reason why TAP wants to grow in Porto."

Thus, TAP will increase flight operations in Porto, and starting June, there will be direct flights between Porto and São Paulo, in Brazil, with three weekly flights, operated every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Also, TAP has already announced the strengthening of air links between Porto and New York/Newark, offering not two but six weekly flights, operated by the Airbus A321 Long Range.

This increase in flight operation from Porto by TAP represents a total of 288 flight frequencies per week.

Moreover, the new routes that TAP will open this year from Porto to Brussels, Lyon and Munich represent a 34% increase in direct flights from Porto to Europe, compared to the previous year.

Emirates and Finnair start operations in Porto Airport

For the first time, Emirates introduces Porto as a new destination in its global network, as of 2 July 2019, offering four weekly flights, operated by a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in a three class cabin configuration, featuring eight private suites in first class, 42 business class seats and 310 economy class seats.

According to official sources, flight EK197 will depart from Dubai at 9.15 am and arrive in Porto at 2.30 pm. The return flight, EK198, will depart Porto at 5.35 pm and land in Dubai at 4.15 am the next morning.

"Porto is currently enjoying increased levels of tourism, which is also reflective of the growth in the number of visitors to Portugal as a whole," declared Sir Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline.

Another debut is Finnair, as the airliner flies directly to Porto in the summer of 2019. The carrier provides direct flights from Helsinki to Porto, from 21 June to 12 August 2019, on Mondays and Fridays.

The carrier easyJet opens the Porto-Malaga route, offering four weekly flights, from 2 April and 26 October. This is the third route to be announced this year alone, following the routes of Faro-Manchester, Porto-Nice and Lisbon-Manchester. On 16 June the airliner will launch the Porto-Bordeaux route.

Volotea is on the market as well, as it offers direct flights from Porto to Bilbao, starting April 2019, every Thursdays and Sundays.

Air France also strengthens the air links between Paris and Porto, at the height of the season, totalling 14 flights per week.

Airliner Wizz Air will operate three weekly flights from Porto to London and Ryanair adds Brest route to its network, with two weekly flights from Porto to that French city. Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air, headquartered in Budapest, which serves many cities across Europe, is betting in Porto for the company's network expansion, with the Porto -London route scheduled to start on 2 July 2019. This new airline route will offer three flights per week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and tickets are already available on the company's website.

Also, Ryanair, the Irish low-cost airline headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland, will provide two flights per week to Brest, France, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, starting in April 2019.

It should be highlighted that Ryanair will launch six new routes from Porto starting next summer, namely Seville, Alicante, Brive, Cagliari, Marrakesh and Venice (Treviso).