Lisbon Portela Airport: Portugal’s Main International Gateway

“We commissioned many studies to determine this airport’s maximum capacity and they all showed this to be 40 movements per hour; at that time, our capacity was 34 movements per hour. So, ANA launched a development plan based on bringing the airport’s capacity up to this maximum.”

Lisbon Portela Airport, located around 4.3 miles north of the city, serves as Portugal’s main international gateway and is one of the biggest airports in southern Europe. Handling over 14 million passengers in 2010, Lisbon Portela continues to see its traffic grow.

According to the Airport General Manager Joao Nunes, as of July the airport had served more than eight million passengers in 2011, 7.1 percent more than in the fi rst seven months of 2010. While almost 80 percent of its flights are in Europe, Lisbon Portela has recently inaugurated new flights to other international destinations and it operates more flights to Brazil than any other airport outside South America.

Lisbon Airport is owned by state entity ANA Aeroportos de Portugal, which was the first airport-management company in the world and the first Portuguese enterprise to simultaneously obtain ISO certification in quality, environment, health and safety, and social responsability.

Mr. Nunes explains that in 2005 ANA decided to expand the existing airport. The Lisbon Portela development plan, covering the period 2006 to 2011, has boosted the airport’s capacity to 40 movements per hour and up to 18 million passengers per year; Lisbon Portela also has a new terminal, new gates, enlarged cargo-handling facilities and other new facilities.

Mr. Nunes says, “Lisbon Portela has physical limitations because we are surrounded by the city. In 2005, we commissioned many studies to determine this airport’s maximum capacity and they all showed this to be 40 movements per hour; at that time, our capacity was 34 movements per hour. So, ANA launched a development plan based on bringing the airport’s capacity up to this maximum.”