The Independent Technical Commission (CTI) considers the single solution for Lisbon’s new airport, in Alcochete or Vendas Novas, to be the most “favorable in overall terms”, according to the final report released today.
In the conclusions of the environmental report published today, the CTI states that “the strategic options for a single solution are the most favorable in overall terms”, pointing to the Alcochete and Vendas Novas hypotheses.
However, it highlights the “financial advantage of dual solutions based on maintaining Humberto Delgado Airport (AHD)”, with the construction of new infrastructure either in Alcochete or Vendas Novas.
The CTI’s recommendations point out that Humberto Delgado + Santarém “could be a solution”, after this option was ruled out in the preliminary report.
In this solution, the commission refers to Santarém as “a complementary airport to the AHD (Humberto Delgado), but with a limited number of movements, not allowing the necessary airport capacity to be met in the long term”.
“It would have the advantage of allowing the constraints created by the concession contract to be overcome in the short term, while also having the advantage of private financing,” he points out, also pointing out the advantage for “territorial cohesion at national level, especially in the Central Region, although with less advantage for the Lisbon Region.”
The commission has “doubts about its speed of implementation” and considers that “the Santarém solution as a single infrastructure will not be viable”, “due to the existing military aeronautical limitations that do not allow it to be constituted as a single alternative airport to the AHD”.
The CTI points out that the Vendas Novas option “has fewer advantages in terms of proximity” to the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML), as well as “implementation time”, noting that “more studies are needed, as well as more expropriations”.
Vendas Novas “has more advantages from an environmental point of view, with less impact on bird movement corridors and groundwater resources, although it affects areas of cork oak forest and surface water resources in much the same way”.
This solution “could also contribute to increased territorial cohesion at national level, especially in the Alentejo region, which is still capable of being extended to the Lisbon region,” it said.
The Alcochete and Vendas Novas solutions require the deactivation of the Alcochete Shooting Range, representing “an additional burden” for Vendas Novas.
Regarding the Humberto Delgado + Montijo option, or Montijo as a single airport, CTI warns of constraints, such as the “non-renewal of the DIA [Environmental Impact Statement]” in the dual solution, which “thus loses its advantage in terms of speed of execution”.
The CTI also stresses that Humberto Delgado + Montijo is “disadvantageous in the long term because it merely postpones the problem of actually increasing airport capacity, taking into account the projections for an increase in demand, even the most modest ones” and points out that any solution with Montijo “also has the greatest and most significant negative environmental impacts, which makes it unviable from this point of view”.
The committee recommends that the solution should be a single airport that guarantees “the efficiency and effectiveness of its operation”, pointing out that all options generate “opportunities, but also risks, considering uncertainties, and also negative impacts, particularly on the environment and human health”.
The final report on the location options for Lisbon’s new airport was due to be published on March 22, but the CTI said in a statement today that it had decided to bring forward the publication “for reasons of transparency” and that it would be available at www.aeroparticipa.pt.