The company added however that: “Unfortunately, there will be no Ryanair growth in Lisbon this winter due to ANA's excessive and uncompetitive fees and the airport monopoly's failure to expand capacity at Portela, which hinders traffic, tourism, and employment growth in Lisbon”.

Ryanair is calling on the Portuguese government to urgently expand the capacity to ensure Lisbon's competitiveness, and urges, ANA, to “improve its competitiveness by reducing its excessive fees and abandoning the absurd proposal to have Portela Airport passengers finance Alcochete Airport by paying higher fees 12 years before being able to use the new airport”.

Expansion

According to the company, Ryanair continues to grow elsewhere in Portugal, expecting to carry 14 million passengers (+6%) in 2025, and has presented the Portuguese Government with ambitious plans to double traffic to 28 million passengers per year, based on 16 new Boeing MAX-10 aircraft (investment of $1.6 billion) and the creation of 500 new jobs for Portuguese pilots, crew and engineers by 2030.

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said: “Ryanair continues to grow at Portugal’s regional airports this winter, operating 121 routes, including four new ones (Porto–Gothenburg and Warsaw, Faro–Krakow, and Madeira–Shannon), adding frequencies on over 30 existing routes, and basing two additional aircraft (a $200 million investment) this winter in Madeira and Faro. Unfortunately, there is no growth in Lisbon due to the excessive fees of the ANA monopoly and its repeated failure to increase capacity at Portela”.

Ryanair is "a major airline experiencing rapid post-COVID growth in Portugal. We can double Portuguese traffic to 28 million passengers per year in the next five years, creating significant economic and employment growth. But without urgent action from the government and ANA, this growth will shift to lower-cost airports and other European countries."