ANA asks for more air space to grow, even before the new airport in Montijo is built

ANA – Portugal Airports is sure that Lisbon will be able to grow even before the new airport is built in Montijo, in 2022. The Portuguese airport manager revealed that the new terminal in the airport of Portela is already being built and assures that it will not be for a lack of investment that Lisbon will not grow. However, ANA leaves a note to the Government, the Air Force and NAV, which is in charge of managing the airspace in Portugal: if ANA does not have  enough air space, the investments on the ground will be made to no avail and there might not be enough growth.

The proposal presented by ANA for building an airport in Montijo has been given to the Government and the next few steps will be “detailing” the proposal. No one is questioning whether or not the airport will move forward, but the tourism operators are already worried: the airport should only be concluded in 2022 and until then, the Lisbon Airport is not yet able to accommodate the passengers’ growth that has been registered.

Nonetheless, ANA is already taking care of this constraint, by implementing a “contingency plan for growth”, in order to increase the Airport’s capacity until the airport in Montijo is ready. “We are still able to grow in Lisbon, but we obviously need more air space”, stated Carlos Lacerda, CEO of ANA, in the yearly congress of the Portuguese Hotel Business (AHP). “We are not worried about the new terminal. Investments have begun and are under way. What we need is air space.”

Carlos Lacerda is speaking of the new terminal that will serve international flights in the Humberto Delgado airport. This will be an infrastructure built from scratch, connected to the current passengers terminal with a tunnel. The investment will cost around 400 million euros and it should be ready next Summer (between March and October), in celebration of ANA’s 75^th birthday.