Communiqué from the Regional Government / Visit Azores - Ryanair operation continues in the Azores - Communication

Ryanair will maintain its operations in the Azores for Terceira and São Miguel, with domestic and international flights, adjusting them to demand and mitigating the risk of the operation.

After long and difficult talks between the region, the airline, Turismo de Portugal (national authority) and ANA Aeroportos de Portugal (national airport authority), it is with satisfaction that we note the good result achieved with the work carried out in this process, ensuring the continuity of domestic flight operations as well as international flight connections to strategic markets.

In addition to the Lisbon - Ponta Delgada and Porto - Ponta Delgada routes, as well as the Lisbon - Terceira and Porto - Terceira routes, during the summer there will also be flights to Stansted (London, United Kingdom) and Nuremberg (Germany), which are already expected to increase in 2025 compared to the operation planned for 2024.

During the IATA winter, Ryanair's operation will be adapted to the demand expected by the company and will evolve in line with the growth in demand and the expected increase in tourism in the Region, providing new flights in line with the performance of the market.

Ryanair's operation to the Azores will include at least 2,032 flights per year. For the time being, during the IATA winter, there will be two weekly LIS-PDL frequencies, two OPO-PDL frequencies, two LIS-TER  frequencies and two OPO-TER  frequencies, which may change depending on demand. In the IATA summer, there will be 13 weekly LIS-PDL frequencies, seven OPO-PDL frequencies, one STN-PDL frequency and one NUE-PDL frequency, in addition to four LIS-TER frequencies and two OPO-TER frequencies. Each of these frequencies represents two flights (round trip), thus totalling 352 flights in the IATA winter and 1,680 flights in the IATA summer.

The difficult talks with Ryanair were systematically subject to various structural constraints, completely unrelated to the Region, which have conditioned all the work and will condition the operation that has now been announced.

The current constraints and lack of capacity at Lisbon airport, with the subsequent limitation of slots, are among these obstacles of particular importance.

The deadlock over the location and construction of the new international airport in Lisbon is increasingly a cause for great concern, as the Government of the Azores has already warned.

This is already seriously affecting the possibility of further increasing air connections to the Azores, representing an absolute limiting factor for the sustainability of tourism as a growing economic sector and, consequently, a hindrance to the social and economic development of the Region.

Additionally, according to Ryanair, the profitability of its operation in the IATA winter is seriously affected by a significant increase in costs for the company, namely due to:

1) ANA Aeroportos de Portugal's decision to increase airport taxes in Ponta Delgada, despite the remoteness of the Region, a situation that has since been minimised;

2) the costs arising from increases in fuel prices;

3) the reform of the ETS (Emissions Trading System) applicable to international flights (only) from the European Union (EU) to the Azores, which according to Ryanair, makes destinations outside the EU more competitive, citing Morocco and Turkey as examples.

In addition, the entire negotiation process was severely affected by the lengthy response (which has now been overcome) from the National Government regarding the reduction of security fees and the publication of the respective ordinance, something that Ryanair had been demanding for a long time.

Nevertheless, the Azores have seen a growing trend in tourist demand over the last three years, as a result of the important work that the Regional Government and Visit Azores have carried out in terms of tourism promotion in the main source markets, while also attracting new airlines and new routes to the Azores.Since 2021, the Region has received new flights from international companies such as Lufthansa (Frankfurt), Swiss Air (Geneva), Iberia (Madrid), British Airways (London), Transavia (Paris and Amsterdam), Edelweiss (Zurich) and United Airlines (New York), alongside the successful efforts of Azores Airlines to open up new routes.

Particularly for the IATA winter, Azores Airlines and TAP are planning to increase domestic flights, seizing opportunities in the new context of air connectivity to the Azores, covering Terceira and Ponta Delgada.

Faced with this dynamic of tourism growth, the development of external connectivity and the increased attractiveness of the destination, the Government and Visit Azores are confident that demand will continue to grow and that increasingly better opportunities will be created to expand existing operations for longer periods throughout the year.

According to the recently approved Strategic and Marketing Plan for Tourism in the Azores 2030, the main goals include the consolidation of the sector, the mitigation of seasonality and the dispersion of tourist flows across the nine islands of the archipelago.

With the flights now available on Ryanair's sales system as of today and for the next week, a long and difficult process has come to a successful end, ensuring the Region's external connectivity and keeping the Azores part of Ryanair's huge promotional and distribution network.

From a strategic point of view, more than the number of flights, it is, above all, important to keep Ryanair connected to the Azores and, thus, ensure the presence of the Azores in the large distribution channel that this airline has throughout Europe.

This is a factor of the utmost importance in this process. It contributes to the promotion and visibility of the destination, reaching all the markets where Ryanair operates.

Government of the Azores and the Board of Directors of Visit Azores.