Faro’s Gago Coutinho Airport reached a historic milestone in 2025, surpassing 10 million passengers for the first time in its 60-year history. The air facility helped strengthening the links of South Portugal. Last year, Algarve was linked to 22 countries and 77 destinations, which helped reducing the region’s long-standing seasonality. Faro International Airport had a total of 33 carriers on a regular basis last year.
According to data released by Portugal trade publication Publituris, passenger traffic at Faro Airport rose 6% in 2025 compared to 2024. It marked the strongest year ever for the gateway to southern Portugal.
The airport saw the opening of six new routes : Newark with United Airlines, Helsinki with Finnair, Reykjavik with Play, Funchal with TAP Air Portugal, Riga with airBaltic, and Krakow with Ryanair. Many airlines added also flights to already existing routes. It included Berlin with Eurowings; Bournemouth and London Luton with Jet2.com; Zurich with easyJet; Bordeaux with easyJet and Transavia France; London Gatwick with Wizz Air; London Southend with easyJet; and Amsterdam with TUI Netherlands.
The United Kingdom remained Faro’s largest market, accounting for 46% of total passenger traffic, followed by Germany, Ireland, France, and the Netherlands.
ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal said the winter 2024/25 season was the best on record, with strong growth helping to further reduce seasonality. Winter traffic has more than doubled between 2015 and 2025, the operator noted.
Thierry Ligonnière, CEO of ANA/VINCI Airports, this milestone in Faro airport history “reflects the confidence of passengers, partners, communities, and airlines, as well as the commitment of our teams.” He added that the company will “continue to invest in connecting the Algarve to the world, supported by an ambitious sustainability strategy to ensure the future is as promising as the present.”
Current investments at Faro Airport include the complete renovation of the passenger terminal roof, upgrades to the air-conditioning system, and the introduction of biometric processes under VINCI Airports’ Biometrics program. A new self-service bag drop system has also been deployed to streamline checked baggage handling. With a theoretical air terminal capacity of 8 million passengers while accommodating over 10 million travelers, VINCI is also preparing a new expansion plan. The last air terminal enlargement occurred back to 2017.
