The fog combined with the temporary inoperability of the Instrument Landing System (ILS), due to ongoing construction at the airport, has led to the cancellation, delay, or rerouting of dozens of flights over the past two weeks.
“The Instrument Landing System (ILS) at Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport is now fully operational, following a successful flight check that confirmed all operational parameters are 100% calibrated to the new runway conditions,” stated the company responsible for air traffic management in a press release.
An official source from NAV Portugal emphasized that “with the ILS now fully available, the airport resumes its normal operational capacity in reduced visibility conditions.”
The construction at Porto Airport is scheduled to continue until February 2026.
On May 27, 2024, ANA announced that the reinforcement of the runway at Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport in Maia, Porto district, would begin on July 31 of that year, adding that the project would take 19 months and involve an investment of 50 million euros.
The airport management explained at the time that the works aimed to “enhance the operational conditions of the airport, representing the largest intervention on the runway of this infrastructure.”
The intervention on the runway and adjacent areas includes the complete repaving of the wear layer of runway 17-35, structural reinforcement of the runway, adjustment of the runway strip geometry, and the lighting approach of runways 17 and 35, as well as replacing runway lights with LED systems.
The project also includes a full renovation of the runway drainage system and the installation of civil infrastructure for the implementation of ILS category II navigation equipment on runway 35, which will allow operations in low visibility conditions.
