2025 update. On 30 November Faro airport set a new record in terms of passenger numbers having
welcomed six million passengers in eleven months.

Passenger number six million was German surf and nature lover Laurent Radinger, who had travelled with Irish airline Ryanair from Dusseldorf/Weeze and had no idea of the celebratory reception that awaited him at Faro airport.

As well as a free trip with Ryanair for two people the unsuspecting passenger was also given a present from the management at Faro airport; a traditional piece of pottery in the shape of an Algarvian chimney.

The last time Faro airport reached similar figures was in 2006 when it welcomed five million passengers.

Since then it has steadily upped its capacity of processing flights per hour from 22 to 24, and maintained its passenger processing capacity of 2,400 people per hour in each direction – arriving and departing.

Between 2006 and 2014 the Algarve’s airport has registered annual passenger growth in the region of 2.5 percent, with its main markets being the UK, Germany, Ireland, Holland and Portugal, in that order respectively.

As of 2019, Faro Airport is capable of handling nine million passengers a year. There are 22 stands, of which 16 are remote, with 60 check-in desks and 36 boarding gates.

In June 2022, it was announced that the airport would carry Gago Coutinho's name in honour of the navigator and admiral of Algarve origins who, in 1922, together with the aviator Sacadura Cabral, accomplished the first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic in the seaplane Lusitânia, named after the Roman Empire name for what would become Portugal.
The airport name became official in September 2022. At the same time it was announced the commissioning of a solar power plant with a capacity of 3MWp, enabling to produce 30% of the airport's electricity needs, reducing CO2 emissions by more than 1,500 tonnes per year.

Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair is the airport’s main airline, carrying around 1.7 million passengers a year to and from the region, representing around 28 percent of the overall yearly traffic.

Statistics 2024

Passengers	9,830,000
Passengers change 23-24	2.0%
Aircraft movements	63,530
Movements change 23-24	1.3%

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