Ryanair Group’s CEO Michael O’Leary is not known for pulling his punches, and today he kept that reputation intact. Announcing four new routes for Portugal this winter, he used the moment to pour scorn on Portugal’s dilatory business dealings when it comes to the aircraft/airport sector.
First of all, the new routes, originating in Porto, Faro and Funchal (Madeira), leave Lisbon out, as ANA airport authority claims it has reached its maximum capacity for flights. O’Leary disagrees – saying all that ANA has to do is remove some of the ‘slots’ given over to TAP, and ‘hey presto’, there would be more space for other airlines to arrive and land.
He is also, like ANA, one of the proponents of the Montijo air base as a ‘new passenger terminal’ instead of Alcochete (finally decided after decades of to-ing and fro-ing), irrespective of the detrimental consequences it would bring residents, bird life and the environment generally.
Regarding the government’s plan for the sale of TAP, O’Leary stresses that it should be ready to sell 100% of the airline straight away.
All this is typically provocative stuff, unlikely to change anything in the short-term, mainly because nothing ever gets done in Portugal in the short-term at the best of times.
As for the new winter routes, there are Faro to Krakow (Poland), Madeira to Shannon (Ireland), Porto to Gothenburg (Sweden) and Warsaw (Poland).
Ryanair’s 2025/ 2026 winter schedule for Portugal involves a total of 121 routes, with the frequent addition of 30 others from regional airports, say reports.
Another novelty this winter will be the addition of two planes to be based in Madeira and Faro.
Said O’Leary, who was fresh from lambasting situations in neighbouring Spain, “unfortunately, Ryanair will have no growth in Lisbon due to the excessive, uncompetitive taxes charged by ANA, and the failure of the airport monopoly to expand the airport’s capacity, which impedes the growth of traffic, tourism and employment in Lisbon”.
The Ryanair Group CEO went on to label the funding model (involving increased airport taxes) for Alcochete as “absurd” – and dangle an ‘expansion carrot’ at the government, challenging them to find more space in Lisbon and Ryanair would deliver up to 28 million airline passengers per year… which all depends on “increasing (Lisbon’s) capacity, and ANA reducing taxes”.
Jornal Economico covers the animated press conference today, saying that Mr O’Leary used the word “bloody” a lot, describing it as “an informal Irish expression”.
Source material: SIC/ Jornal Economico/
