Maia, Porto, Portugal, Sept. 10, 2024 (Lusa) - Francisco Sá Carneiro airport in Porto will be closed from midnight and throughout the day on Tuesday for runway rehabilitation work, an overall investment of €50 million.
The runway rehabilitation work began at the end of July and is taking place from Monday to Saturday, between midnight and 6am "to minimise the impact on airport operations" over the 19 months of work, ANA Aeroportos de Portugal (the country's airports management company) explained in May, when it signed the work contract with Aciona.
Questioned by Lusa, ANA said in a statement that the airport will reopen at 6am on the 11th, adding that from this day of total closure (Tuesday), "the remaining work will be carried out between midnight and 6am, from Monday to Saturday", as it has been until now.
The structural reinforcement works on the runway are expected to be completed by February 2026, ANA said.
Interviewed by Lusa, Mário Gonçalves, from the Portuguese Transport Workers' Union (STTAMP), explained that Groundforce workers - the main ground handling company - were given the opportunity, without any pressure, to take a day's holiday or, if they wanted to, to use compensatory leave.
"Those who don't want to, will report to work," he said, adding that in some cases, like his, workers are taking advantage of the opportunity for overdue training.
"As for other employees in other areas of the airport," he continued, "the information I have is that everything is closed - restaurants, cafés - everything is closed. Some are going to use the day to do leisure activities outside the airport, which have already been agreed with the companies, and others, like those in the duty-free shop, are going to work, but it's to make replacements, clean, do inventory."
According to Mário Gonçalves, the airport itself "will take the opportunity to clean the technical areas more thoroughly".
With this rehabilitation operation, which represents an investment of €50 million, ANA will "reinforce the airport's operational conditions, this being the largest operation carried out on the runway of this infrastructure".
The work on the runway and adjacent areas includes the complete resurfacing of the wear layer on runways 17-35, structural reinforcement work on the runway, adjusting the geometry of the runway strip and the approach line (light signalling) on runways 17 and 35, as well as replacing the runway lighting systems with LEDs.
The work also includes the complete renovation of the runway drainage system and the installation of civil infrastructure for the implementation of navigation equipment (ILS category II) on runway 35, which will allow operations in low visibility.
In May, ANA president Thierry Ligonnière had already revealed that the airport would be closed on 10 September.
"The only work visible to passengers will take place on 10 September. Some of these works will have to be carried out over a longer period than we have available each night. This situation leads us to propose closing the airport for a full day, the only day of the year when there will be no aeroplanes on the runway in Porto," he explained at the time.
The president of ANA explained that "this date was chosen based on the probability of favourable weather conditions".
"Let's cross our fingers that the conditions are favourable so that the work can be done," he said.
The runway, said Thierry Ligonnière, "is in need of renovation and strengthening".
"And we're taking advantage of this renovation treatment to adjust the geometric characteristics of the runway (...) with a view to placing Porto's runway at the highest level of safety," thus contributing "to keeping the airport among the best in Europe," he added.
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