New Lisbon hub moves closer

Portugal's aviation industry has struggled for many years to cope with the fact that Lisbon's airport has no more space to grow.

Lisbon Portela is in a busy part of the city and the government allowed the construction of residential and commercial buildings (including Expo 98), as well as busy roads and motorways, around it.

"This has happened before, as it happens in most countries around the world - the growth and expansion of cities near main infrastructures almost works as a magnet," said Aliete Costa, chief financial officer of NAER (New Airport Development Company).

Facilities at Lisbon Portela are under severe capacity constraints and the airport managed to handle only 13.6 million passengers in 2008 - which is 3,500 more than recommended. It is also experiencing limitations in all its subsystems, such as landside access and parking, and airside (taxiways, aprons, runways, terminal buildings and operational systems).

Lisbon Portela is run by state-owned ANA (Aeroportos de Portugal). ANA handled more than 28 million passengers in 2008 through its nine Portuguese airports: Lisbon was the busiest with 13.6 million.

"Unlike the nine other airports that ANA manages, the current infrastructures in Lisbon don't allow the airport to offer an 'excellent' level of quality to passengers as well as airlines, or to offer the quickness and efficiency that ANA wishes to offer," Costa told Jane's .

Building a new airport outside the Greater Lisbon area is the best option, according to Costa, as the problems the current airport is facing cannot be resolved with the existing infrastructures.