Flixbus will intensify its activities on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve in Portugal, with the CEO of the Iberian road carrier highlighting barriers to “entry” into the Sete Rios terminal in Lisbon.
According to information sent to the trucking company, Flixbus “from this week until January is strengthening all its domestic and international lines to meet the mobility needs of the Portuguese and tourists visiting the country this Christmas season” since, “on domestic routes, i.e. national routes, the number of trips increases by 33-56%, and globally between domestic and international flights the increase is 30%.”
Flixbus now operates up to 104 journeys (52 each direction) on the Lisbon-Porto route over the Christmas and New Year period, representing a 33% year-on-year increase, with services between Lisbon and the Algarve representing a 56% increase compared to the same period in 2022 with 128 connections (64 in each direction).
The carrier also reported increased demand for flights to Serra da Estrela and Coimbra in the last week of the year.
Speaking to Lusa, Iberian CEO Pablo Pastega said the company continues to grow in Portugal and now works with 14 local partners, mainly small and medium-sized companies (SMEs).
The official promised that the carrier would continue to invest, but noted some obstacles, namely the entrance to the Sete Rios terminal in Lisbon.
“We have been stopping at Gare do Oriente since 2017, but since that year we have asked Sete Rios terminal managers many times about the possibility of stopping there, as other express operators do. And we never received a response from them. them,” he lamented.
Pablo Pastega even reported that the Lisbon City Council has already given the green light for this operation, but the carrier still does not receive a response from the terminal.
According to Flixbus, internationally there is an increase in demand for flights to Madrid, Seville, Vigo and Santiago de Compostela, with flights from Porto and Lisbon to Paris “also registering significant growth and have therefore been strengthened for this season’s holidays.”
In domestic and international travel, the global growth in deliveries is 30%, the company emphasized.
Flixbus has 53 domestic destinations in Portugal and 107 international destinations from the country.
In the first half of this year, the group carried more than 36 million passengers worldwide using Flixbus, FlixTrain, Greyhound and Kamil Koç, equivalent to a 53% increase compared to 2022, according to the company.
Total group revenue reached €860 million, up 54% compared to the first half of 2022.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Tifany Hawkins, a professional journalist with years of experience in news reporting. I currently work for a prominent news website and write articles for 24NewsReporters as an author. My primary focus is on economy-related stories, though I am also experienced in several other areas of journalism.