Luc Lentjes, head of TUI, said in a press conference in Ponta Delgada “we will operate the route with a 183-seat Boeing 737-800, twice a week, offering a total of 9,881 seats between Amsterdam and the Azores”, adding the flights take place on Mondays and Fridays.
Despite operating in the Azores for almost a decade, with flights to São Miguel and Terceira, next summer will see the airline fly to the island of Pico for the first time, which means a 15 percent boost to the airline’s availability to the archipelago.
Lentjes said the new route was introduced due to clients’ demands to explore the Azores’ smaller islands, from Pico the islands of Faial and São Jorge can be reached by boat.
Regional State Secretary for Tourism and Transports, Vítor Fraga, said the new operation is “one more step towards the consolidation of the Azores as a destination”, and has the advantage of “opening a new door to the archipelago, whose benefits will extend to other islands of the central group.”
“Holland is a consolidated market which the region has invested in and that continued investment is maximizing the returns obtained”, the governor said, adding that the new route “is the first time a private operator directly enters Pico” and will result in around 60,000 overnight stays.
São Roque do Pico Mayor, Mark Silveira, who was at the conference, described the launch of direct flights between Amsterdam and Pico as “big news” for the island and for “the triangle” made up of Pico, Faial and São Jorge.
Mark Silveira recalled that São Roque do Pico has the largest availability of accommodation on the island, and stressed that a number of the Dutch tourists would surely be spending time in the area, which would have an important financial impact on the local economy.