Irish budget airline Ryanair announced on Tuesday that it will be investing around €100 million to create 12 new routes in Portugal for the summer of 2019, from all of its national bases.

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary made the announcement during a press conference held in Lisbon on Tuesday.
The airline is to introduce three new routes from Lisbon, six from Porto and three from Faro, he revealed.

According to the CEO, this investment is “important because these are difficult times for airlines”, justifying his statement with the fact “oil is at 85 dollars a barrel, prices are dropping, and all airlines are reporting losses in revenue”.

He elaborated: “It is important that we continue to invest here in Portugal, that we continue to create good jobs for people, and that we reach an agreement with unions to end these pointless wars that do not get us anywhere”.

The 12 new routes are to Bordeaux, Clermont and Edinburgh (from Lisbon); to Alicante, Brive, Cagliari, Marrakech and Seville (from Porto), and Berlin, Milan Bergamo, and London Southend from Faro.

The airline will also be increasing flights on a number of existing routes at all airports, including the Azores, for a total of 129 routes and 11 million passengers a year.