Portugal targets 2028 airport plan, TAP co-management in 2026

Portugal’s infrastructure minister said work on Lisbon’s planned new airport at Alcochete is moving at a “very fast pace”, with concessionaire ANA expected to deliver the project, environmental impact assessment and economic-financial terms to the state in January 2028.

Speaking on Antena 1’s Política com Assinatura podcast, Miguel Pinto Luz said ANA is meeting the government’s requirements “day by day”. He also acknowledged that works at Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado airport, which he said has been turned into a “construction site”, carry a political cost for the government, but argued they are needed to do what had not been done in the previous eight years.

On TAP, Pinto Luz said the winner of the airline’s privatization, due to be chosen in September this year, may begin co-managing the carrier with TAP’s current leadership still in 2026. However, he said the buyer would only be able to enter TAP’s share capital in the summer of 2027, blaming what he described as an overly bureaucratic European decision-making process.

The minister also said measures agreed with the interior ministry had improved border operations compared with 15 days, one month and two months ago, as disruption at Lisbon airport has drawn political attention alongside the broader infrastructure overhaul.

Originally published at Eco.pt