There are many possibilities to fly in or out of the Algarve. The Algarve main airport is located in Faro, but you can also arrive or depart easily from Lisbon (3 hours away) or Seville (1h30 away).
Portugal is also to the fore when it comes to real-time connections, seeing that it’s the 29th country in “Air Transport Quality Ranking” (GCI, 2017-2018, out of 137 nations) centrally-located between Europe and America (3H far Centre Europe, 6 H far America (north and South)
Faro International Airport: Airlines and destinations
Flights from and to the Algarve. Information about the main air routes available at Faro airport – international and domestic flights. Direct connections with the major European cities.
International flights
More than 90% of the air traffic at Faro airport consists of international flights with origin and destination in Europe. The countries with more direct routes between the Algarve are from the United Kingdom, followed by Germany, the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland. All together, these countries account for more than 80% of the flights at Faro airport and represent the main target markets for the Algarve tourism sector. In total there are 30 to 40 European cities with direct flights to Faro airport, although this number may vary according to the time of year. Most flights to Faro are provided by lowcost airlines such as Easyjet, Jet2.com or Ryanair, which also operates one of its European bases from Faro airport and has the highest share of flights to and from the Algarve.
United Kingdom
UK countries, especially from Great Britain, are the main source of the Algarve tourism revenue. England is by far the country with more flights to the Algarve. The frequency of direct flights from English cities is the highest, accounting for over 45% of the annual air traffic at Faro airport. At the top of the list are the flights between London and Faro, responsible for approximately 1.5 million visits to the Algarve every year. The second busiest route is between Manchester and Faro with approximately 400 000 passengers per year. Liverpool, Bristol and Birmingham are also popular routes, each registering more than 200 000 passengers annually. Together with Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, flights between the United Kingdom represent more than half (about 55%) of all annual air traffic at Faro airport.
Rest of Europe and world
Below we list more European cities and other international destinations with direct flight connections to Faro airport – please note that available routes may vary throughout the year. Associated with each destination is the corresponding airport name and the airline(s) providing flights between Faro.
Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.
Germany
Flights between German cities and the Algarve represent the second largest slice of air traffic at Faro airport. The number of passengers coming from Germany has grown considerable in recent years – in 2013 increased nearly 23%. Together with the United Kingdom, Germany has the highest number of cities with direct flights to Faro airport.
Ireland
Although it occupies the fourth position in terms of passenger count by nationality, the frequency of direct flights from Dublin to Faro makes this route the third most operated at Faro airport. More than 300 000 passengers coming from Ireland land at Faro airport each year.
Netherlands
The Dutch market occupies the third position with regard to the number of flights and passenger handling at Faro airport. With direct routes from the three major Dutch cities – Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Eindhoven – about half a million passengers from Holland land at Algarve Faro airport every year.
Domestic flights
At national level the main air connections are supported by 5 airports. In the mainland, the airports of Faro (south), Lisbon (centre) and Porto (north) operate domestic flights from north to south. Flights to the Azores and Madeira islands in the Atlantic are ensured by the airports of Funchal and Ponta Delgada respectively. Direct flights to Lisbon and Porto are available from Faro airport every day. Flights from Faro to the Azores and Madeira islands are only possible with a connection flight through Lisbon airport.
Portugal
| Destination | Airlines |
|---|---|
| Azores, Ponta Delgada PDL | Sata – Azores Airlines |
| Lisbon LIS | TAP Portugal |
| Madeira, Funchal FNC | TAP Portugal |
| Porto OPO | Ryanair |
Faro Lisbon
Several daily flights in the morning and the afternoon are available between Faro and Lisbon airports. They are carried out by the national airline company TAP Portugal. Normally, every day of the year, the first aircraft to take off from Faro airport is the one going to Lisbon at 06:05 AM – the TAP flight TP1900. The duration of the flight between Faro and Lisbon is around 45 minutes. Lisbon airport (LIS), also known as Portela Airport, is the largest in Portugal, with an annual volume of passengers over 16 million. From Lisbon you can take direct flights to all major European cities and several intercontinental flights to the rest of the world.
Faro Porto
Currently, the only direct flights between Faro and Porto airports are operated by the lowcost airline Ryanair. The company provides early morning and night time flights to Porto on a daily basis. The flight duration between Faro and Porto is a little more than one hour. Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport in Porto (OPO) serves the entire northern region of Portugal and also the northern part of Spain near the border. The Portuguese company TAP also allows to buy plane tickets between Faro and Porto but requires a change of flight at Lisbon airport.
Faro Azores
You can buy plane tickets from Faro airport to the Azores islands through the companies TAP Portugal e SATA. With both companies it will be necessary to make a change of flight at Lisbon airport. The most frequent flights to the Azores are bounded to Ponta Delgada in the São Miguel island. At the present there are no direct flights connecting Faro airport to the Azores.
Faro Madeira
The plane ticket between Faro airport and the city of Funchal in Madeira island is possible with the company TAP Portugal, through a stopover in Lisbon. There are currently no direct flights between Faro Airport and Madeira.
Airlines
At the moment Faro airport is used as a base by two companies, the Portuguese airline TAP and the Irish lowcost Ryanair. The main airlines with connections to Faro are:
- Aer Lingus (3)
- Aigle Azur (1)
- Air Nostrum (1)
- Air Transat (1)
- British Airways (4)
- Brussels Airlines (1)
- Corendon (2)
- EasyJet (17)
- Edelweiss (1)
- Eurowings (9)
- Flybe (4)
- Germania (4)
- Germanwings (3)
- Jet2.com (9)
- Lufthansa (2)
- Luxair (1)
- Norwegian (4)
- Primera Air (1)
- Ryanair (36)
- SAS Scandinavian Airlines (2)
- Sata – Azores Airlines (1)
- TAP Portugal (2)
- Thomas Cook Airlines (4)
- Thomson Airways (4)
- Transavia (7)
- Travel Service (2)
- TuiFly (6)
- Volotea (3)
- Vueling (1)
- Wizz Air (1)
Source: Flights from / to Faro Airport – Destinations and Airlines (aeroportodefaro.com)
July 7, 2021
