Portugal will build a new international airport in the municipality of Alcochete, across the Tagus River from Lisbon, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro announced on Tuesday after decades of back-and-forth discussions over the location.
The new airport will be built on the site of a military airfield in Alcochete, about 40 km east of Lisbon, and should be ready in 2034. This location was chosen by an independent technical committee, which studied several possible airports. sites.
The new airport will replace Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport, close to the city center, but the current airport will be expanded while the new airport is built.
“The government sees having a single airport as a solution that better suits the country’s strategic interests,” Montenegro told a news conference.
Infrastructure Minister Miguel Pinto Luz said the project would cost up to 9 billion euros ($9.74 billion), adding that it would be built using EU funds, public-private partnerships and airport fees and not through the state budget.
The government said it would start talks with airport operator ANA, owned by French construction company Vinci. ANA already has a concession for a new airport in the Lisbon region.
To make it faster for passengers to get to central Lisbon from Alcochete airport, the government said it would build a third bridge over the Tagus River. Pinto Luz said it has still not been decided whether the bridge would be for trains only or also for vehicles. The announcement by the new center-right minority government, which won the general election just two months ago, comes after several investigations and decades of indecision.
The tourism industry has become increasingly frustrated in recent years as Lisbon’s main airport operates at full capacity.
Portugal is experiencing a tourism boom, which has attracted record numbers of visitors. Foreigners staying in Portuguese hotels also rated the first quarter of 2024 as the best ever.
“I just hope that this is a final decision and that it will not be questioned by other governments, something we have unfortunately seen in recent years,” said Francisco Calheiros, head of the Portuguese Tourist Confederation.
The government has also said it will build the long-delayed high-speed train link between Lisbon and the Spanish capital by 2034. There are currently no direct rail connections between Lisbon and Madrid.
