Lisbon, March 23, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal's tourism confederation said on Sunday that concern about the construction of Lisbon's new airport has worsened and that if it takes 20 years, it's too long, acknowledging that there could still be changes with the elections.
"We are currently very, very concerned about Alcochete. I used to say - jokingly - that I didn't know if I was ever going to get on board [a plane] at Alcochete. Now I'm saying I don't know if I'll ever see Alcochete. I'm very worried about its construction. I think it's going to take 20 years and Portuguese tourism can't last 20 years without an airport," Francisco Calheiros, president of the Portuguese Tourism Confederation (CTP), told Lusa.
This is a concern, he said, that the CTP had before the government fell and which has become more acute.
With a caretaker government, what's disturbing in this regard is that important processes such as "negotiations with the concessionaire [of the airports, Ana] have come to a standstill" or decisions that have been finalised are delayed.
"The other day I read that there have been nine locations for the new airport over the years. So I don't know (if the decision taken in the meantime will be the one that goes ahead)," Francisco Calheiros told Lusa, when asked if he was calm on this point, regardless of the outcome of the elections on 18 May.
The current government approved the construction of the new airport for the Lisbon region at the Alcochete Firing Range on 14 May 2024, following the recommendation of the Independent Technical Commission (CTI), announced the prime minister, Luís Montenegro.
On the same day, the PS secretary-general expressed his "unequivocal support" for the decision, which he said had been discussed. Minutes after Luís Montenegro's statement, Pedro Nuno Santos welcomed the government's decision, considering it very important for himself but above all for the country.
But Francisco Calheiros recalled the past.
"Passos Coelho's government decided to build (the airport) in Montijo. There were elections, António Costa and the "geringonça" won. Contrary to what everyone thought, António Costa stuck to his decision: "it's going to be Montijo". So CDS, PSD, PS, Bloco, the gerigonça, have already decided on Montijo. Where are we today? In Alcochete. Everything can change. We're going to have a new government. If it's the PS, it's completely different. We don't know if the ministers will be the same if it's the PSD. I don't know who the Minister for Infrastructure will be for the Economy. I don't know if they have other ideas," said Francisco Calheiros.
That's why the CTP, which has always favoured Montijo, advocates an intermediate solution for Alcochete.
"Portugal has endless requests for air links that are of great interest to us, such as the flight from Korea. We only confirmed it two months ago, and it has been on hold for a long time. A direct flight from South Korea is important. They're a very Catholic country; tourists visit Fátima, and this is decentralising tourism, which is very good. And we're going to spend another 20 years refusing [flight authorisations]? It's unthinkable," he emphasised.
"I don't know if a new minister is going to have this sensitivity and say: "ok, we'll keep Alcochete for 20 years so we don't have to discuss the location any more, but in the meantime, there has to be something"," he appealed.
According to the report published on 17 January, ANA estimates that the new Luís de Camões airport will cost €8.5 billion, of which €7 billion will be financed by issuing debt. It plans to open in mid-2037 or, with optimisations to the timetable to be negotiated with the government, at the end of 2036.
The minister for infrastructures, Miguel Pinto Luz, said in parliament on 12 February that the government "doesn't believe" in the deadlines, the amount and the increase in airport taxes that ANA wants and proposed a memorandum of understanding between the two parties to negotiate these issues.
He said that the government had requested an environmental impact assessment for all of them.
MSF/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
