easyJet welcomes opening of Lisbon base

easyJet has continued to turn Europe orange with the opening of its 23rd network base, in Lisbon. During an official ceremony easyJet chief executive Carolyn McCall inaugurated the Lisbon base in the presence of the minister of economy Alvaro Santos Pereira. Portuguese secretary of state for tourism Cecilia Meireles, the secretary of state for transport Sergio Monteiro and other government, official and industry representatives were also on hand. The development comes at an exciting time for Portugal. The city of Guimarães is currently the European Capital of Culture, the country’s MICE business is booming, the 2012 World Travel Awards are to be hosted at the Conrad Algarve Resort. Filipe Silva, UK director, Turismo de Portugal, said: “The opening of the Lisbon base by easyJet is of significant importance in the continued strengthening of UK and Portugal relations. “We are excited to see that the British airline is committed to offering both business and leisure travellers from the UK the fantastic services easyJet is known for, and we are confident that this new investment will benefit the development of Portugal as a tourism destination.” easyJet will operate 21 European destinations from Lisbon. The new easyJet base will increase Portugal’s connectivity with the rest of Europe and will bring to 42 the total number of European destinations operated by the airline to and from Portugal. easyJet expects to carry four million passengers to and from Portugal this year, and the new base will provide a platform for further growth in Portugal in the coming years.