"Madeira is a great brand and people want to come here, but before they couldn't get cheap prices and now they can", he said, reinforcing: "Low cost companies are the key to the growth and recovery of tourism".

Eddie Wilson was speaking during a visit to the company's base at Madeira International Airport, the fifth in the country, operational since March 29, with Ryanair providing 350,000 seats per year on ten routes with direct connection to the Region.

“We are going to bring new tourism to Madeira”, he said, stressing that it is now easier to get to the island, even despite the frequent operational problems at Cristiano Ronaldo Airport due to the winds.

Eddie Wilson considers that it is not possible to do anything about the weather and the fact that there are flights that diverge, stressing that the same occurs at other airports in Europe.

“It happens from time to time,” he said, adding: “If it was happening all the time, we wouldn't be flying here. We have a base here, it proves how confident we are.”

In addition to Lisbon and Porto, Ryanair has weekly flights to Brussels (Belgium), Dublin (Ireland), London and Manchester (England), Marseille (France), Milan (Italy), Nuremberg (Germany) and Paris (France).