Faro Airport in Portugal, which is operated by VINCI Airports, has had cause for a double celebration, having opened a new easyJet base and launched the first in-airport solar plant in Portugal.
The airport’s position as a base for the popular low-cost carrier, easyJet, illustrates VINCI Airports’ commitment towards Portugal and the Algarve region. Thanks to the €32.8 million modernisation programme the airport operator delivered at Faro Airport, VINCI Airports has strongly enhanced the airport’s attractiveness towards airlines and passengers, since the beginning of the concession. The airport has become a central element in the Algarve’s tourism strategy and a key asset for the future, as Portugal is preparing for the recovery of tourism. The opening of this base, which is the result of a joint effort between easyJet, VINCI Airports and the Portuguese tourism authorities, will contribute to keep opening new routes to and from Faro.
Meanwhile, the airport’s solar plant will have a capacity of 3MWp and will supply Faro Airport with 30% of its electricity needs, generating an annual saving equivalent to more than 1,500 tonnes of CO2. As well as financing, developing and building the solar plant, which will be functional in 2022, VINCI Airports will also operate the plant through its photovoltaic subsidiary, SunMind.
“VINCI Airports is proud to be launching a new phase in Faro Airport’s development, alongside the Portuguese authorities,” said Nicolas Notebaert, CEO of VINCI Concessions and President of VINCI Airports. “Together, we are placing the recovery of Portugal’s tourism under the banner of environmental progress.”
By choosing Faro as the first in-airport solar plant in Portugal, VINCI Airports is taking a step towards the realisation of its environmental action plan in the region. Since it took on the concession of Faro Airport, the operator has been activating partnerships with local environmental organisations, such as the Center for the Marine Sciences of the University of Algarve, to foster knowledge on the region’s fauna and flora. VINCI Airports has already achieved a -13% decrease in carbon emissions of the country’s airports network between 2018 and 2020.
The new solar plant in Faro is part of a global action plan deployed by VINCI Airports across all its 45 airports in 12 countries, with similar projects already deployed or in development in the Dominican Republic, Brazil, the UK, Serbia, Sweden, France and now Portugal.
