Lisbon still dominated by TAP with new Helsinki, Moscow and Warsaw routes starting in June; easyJet now clear #2

Between 1997 and 2007 traffic at Portugal’s main airport at Lisbon more than doubled from 6.6 million passengers to 13.4 million. Located within the city limits the airport’s options for expansion are limited and this has led to the decision to build a new airport away from the city centre at Alcochete, some distance to the south of the city. Until the new airport opens in 2017 the existing facility at Portela will continue to be developed.

Source: ANA, ICAO

Growth in recent years has been driven by the belated arrival of low-cost carriers. easyJet, the airport’s second biggest customer (after TAP Portugal) only began flights to the airport in October 2005 but last year carried 1.1 million passengers through the airport, up 47.6% on 2007. This summer it will serve 12 destinations in seven countries from the airport with Geneva, London Luton, Funchal and Madrid served twice-daily.

The low cost airlines were relatively late arrivals at Lisbon – easyJet, which arrived in 2005, is now the airport’s second biggest customer. This summer other LCCs such as Blue Air, bmibaby, clickair, germanwings, SkyEurope and Vueling will all be present at the airport where demand is less seasonal than at other Portuguese airports. (Demand peaks in August and dips in February.)

Source: ANA

TAP Portugal has 60% share of scheduled seat capacity

The national carrier, TAP Portugal, has an imposing 60% share of the airport’s scheduled seat capacity and serves 62 destinations non-stop including several long-haul routes. Eight destinations in Brazil are served as well as Caracas, Johannesburg, Newark and a handful of other destinations in Africa.

According to the airport’s own statistics, last year two-thirds of all passengers were flying to/from just six country markets. Spain with 1.81 million passengers was the leading country market followed by France (1.38m), Germany (1.20m), UK (1.16m), Brazil (1.12m) and Italy (0.81m). Of these the German market grew fastest in 2008 with passenger demand up 11.5%. Traffic to Spain actually fell by 5.6%. One-quarter of all passengers were accounted for by just five destinations; Paris, London, Madrid, Funchal and Barcelona.

The third biggest airline in Lisbon is SATA, an airline based in Ponta Delgada in the Azores, a group of islands some 1,500 kilometres west of Lisbon and which are an autonomous region of Portugal (as is the island of Madeira). SATA links Lisbon with Ponta Delgada but also operates twice daily to Funchal and twice-weekly to both Boston and Toronto.

TAP Portugal has started new routes to Casablanca, Moscow Domodedovo, Helsinki, Warsaw and Zagreb. Aer Lingus, easyJet, Iberia and Lufthansa Italia have also all started new routes during the last 12 months.

Several new services off-set lost routes

Between July 2007 and July 2008 the airport has gained some nine new services from a range of carriers. TAP Portugal has, or soon will have, started new routes to Casablanca, Moscow Domodedovo, Helsinki, Warsaw and Zagreb. Aer Lingus, easyJet, Iberia and Lufthansa Italia have also all started new routes during this period.

Gained	CMN (TAP Portugal), DME (TAP Portual), FNC (easyJet), HEL (TAP Portugal), MXP (Lufthansa Italia), ORK (Aer Lingus), OVD (Iberia), TLV (Sun D’or), WAW (TAP Portugal)
Lost	BHX (bmibaby), BIO (Iberia), CMN (Regional Air Lines), DME (Krasnoyarsk Airlines), FCO (Alitalia), OSL (SAS), WAW (Centralwings)
Source: OAG Max Online for w/c 7 Jul 2008 and w/c 6 July 2009

Among the lost services only Birmingham is no longer served by any airline. None of the ‘MEB3′ airlines are currently present at the airport and apart from TAP Portugal and SATA there are also US service from Continental (also to Newark) and US Airways (to Philadelphia).

The most competitive route from the airport is to Madrid which is served by no less than four carriers; easyJet, Iberia, TAP Portugal and Vueling. Passengers coming from or going to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Funchal, Milan Malpensa and Paris CDG are also relatively spoilt with a choice of three airlines.