The Expansion Plan for Humberto Delgado Airport (AHD) to a maximum capacity of 45 movements per hour was submitted to the government by ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal on August 5 and will now undergo review by the oversight authorities and aviation sector stakeholders.
In a statement, the Civic Platform “Aeroporto Fora, Lisboa Melhora” reminded Prime Minister Luís Montenegro of his commitment, while in opposition in the summer of 2022, alongside then-Prime Minister António Costa, to a regime solution aimed at relocating the Portela airport.
However, on August 5, “the day the Government received the Expansion Plan from the concessionaire, it acquiesced to ANA/Vinci’s desires to expand Humberto Delgado Airport, committing to a notably costly and redundant investment of 300 million euros, while sidelining the development of a new airport solution,” emphasized the civic platform.
The report presented by ANA is set to be evaluated by the Government, which, due to the “complexity and technical specificity of the matter,” has requested the sector’s competent authorities to review the plan, stated the Ministry of Infrastructure in a communication.
Upon validation by the relevant authorities and approval by the Government, ANA will proceed to draft the Environmental Impact Study, which will subsequently be submitted to the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA).
“We urge the APA to reject a project that will only sustain a structure that over five decades ago was already deemed a public health threat by the then municipal authority of Urban Hygiene,” asserted the citizen group.
In their note, the platform advocated for “an urgent need for an airport strategy focused on the country’s interests,” instead of a “blatant violation of the public interest, favoring private interests and the tourism lobby.”
“It is urgent to build the Luís de Camões airport. Not ten years from now. Today. Because, in truth, it should have been done yesterday,” the citizens insisted.
The group also demands that residents be heard and included “in the decision regarding the future use of the Portela lands, which should be returned to everyone (…) for ecological and leisurely enjoyment.”
The Expansion Plan for Humberto Delgado Airport in Lisbon stems from the Government’s decision to bolster the capacity of Portela until the Luís de Camões Airport, set to be located in the Alcochete Firing Range, comes into operation, “which is expected to happen in about ten years.”
With over 500 hectares, Humberto Delgado Airport has served Lisbon since 1942 and is intended to be dismantled upon completion of the new infrastructure on the southern bank of the Tagus River.
