Shortly after being elected, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro stated publicly that the decision about the new airport would be a priority for his Government, and the truth is that such a decision has been made.
According to the plan revealed yesterday, the recently formed Government decided that the new airport, which has been on the table for years but did not move forward, will be located in Alcochete, across the bridge from Lisbon. Moreover, due to the expected time frame of construction and the amount of flights coming in, there will also be an expansion of the current airport. In fact, because of the logistics, the expansion will start first.
Alcochete was one of the possible options for the construction of the new airport. There were more, like Vendas Novas, for example. However, Alcochete was considered to be the most viable option, in terms of location and projected time of construction, by the strategic environmental evaluation that was performed by the Independent Technical Commission, an entity created for that specific purpose.
The new Government admitted that it will take at least 12 years to build the whole infrastructure and have an operational airport. For that reason, it was also decided that the current airport shall be expanded, in order to better accommodate the growing number of flights.
Such expansion will consist of an extension of Terminal 1, the operational improvement of the runway system, and the implementation of a new air traffic control system. This, according to the relevant experts, will create the conditions that are necessary, in terms of flight capacity and management, for the proper construction of the new airport.
