Aging 65 and operating above its capacity, the Airport of Lisbon still expanding, and serving last year 12 million passengers, against 10,000 per year at the beginning of the activity.
Inaugurated in full World War, October 15 1942, with a small flight of Lisbon and surroundings with the former Minister Duarte Pacheco on board, the Airport of Lisbon complete this Monday 65 years, a date which will be marked with a ceremony where the new projects will be shown for the shopping areas.
Point of passage of figures from the world of entertainment and culture, as the writer Tenesse Williams, the dancer Rudolf Nureyev, the musician Paco Ibanez or a lyric singer Maria Callas, it was the controversy around its closure as a result of the construction of a new airport, outside the capital, which became famous in recent years.
After three decades of studies and controversy, in 1999, Ota, about 50 km from Lisbon, was the location chosen to receive the new airport.
However, the government of Mr Barroso does not give priority to the project and the only Ota reborn as Jose Socrates reaches prime minister, after the option has been favored by Santana Lopes.
The project reborn, as is the case with the doubts and criticisms, and in June this year, after the Confederation of Portuguese Industry (CIP) has submitted to the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister a study that pointed Alcochete as the best option for the location of the new airport in Lisbon, the government mandated the National Laboratory for Civil Engineering (LNEC) make a comparative study between these two places, with the aim of what is the best to build the new infrastructure.
The study should be completed on December 12 this year, although the final decision on the location of the new airport will be taken on the basis of the results obtained by this study.
However, the decision to be taken and the location to the new infrastructure is operational, which according to the forecasts of the government should happen in 2017, the airport's Portela will suffer works of extension to respond to the increase in demand .
The works, during the next four years and cost at 380 million euros, will allow increasing the capacity of the airport Portela of the current 10 million passengers per year to 16 million by 2010 and increase the capacity of the runway from 36 to 40 movements per hour.
At the end of operations, the airport will have 47 gates and boarding (30 of which "Schengen"), which currently further 21, and 20 sleeves for access to aircraft (plus 13), increasing the carrying capacity of the existing 80,000 for 100,000 tonnes per year to 150,000 tonnes per year.
Under this expansion plan was inaugurated in August the new passenger terminal of the airport in Lisbon, an investment of 20 million euros for the departures of domestic flights operated by TAP, SATA and island, with origin in Lisbon and with the destination the airports of Faro, Oporto, Bragança, Vila Real, Madeira and the Azores.
During the first seven months of this year, the airport's Portela recorded a cumulative growth of the number of passengers of 8.6%, expected to reach 13.3 million passengers at the end of 2007.
However, as the president has said of ANA-Aeroportos de Portugal, Guilhermino Rodrigues, "everything that is done at the airport in Lisbon is a patch ', thus justifying the delays in the delivery and the loss of luggage that have marked the work the airport in recent months.
According to the latest data released by Groundforce, only in the first eight months this year lost by more than 90,000 bags at airports Portuguese, or more than 400 per day.
At 90,000 bags lost 8,600 travelers are affected and who submitted claims to the Grounfdforce, not forward the total numbers corresponding to the same period last year.
The comparison can only be made through the monthly numbers of complaints that have reached the 3,600 between January and August 2006, increasing to 4,000 in the same period this year.
Diário Digital / Lusa
