Speaking on the sidelines of a conference about the new airport in Montijo, Carlos Lacerda said Lisbon airport has turned away 400,000 potential new passengers, and, by the end of the year, the figure could be as high as 2.5 million.
This, he added, is because of infrastructure limitations, as only 10 percent of slots remain.
Carlos Lacerda explained that currently 90 percent of the slots (landing and takeoff times) are full, meaning that an aircraft may get permission to land in the morning but only have a takeoff slot in the evening, and as the airlines cannot keep their planes on the ground for long, that is not a viable option.
Faced with this “good problem” as “the passenger numbers are growing much faster than expected”, the chairman of ANA said pragmatism was needed to invest in accommodating the growth”.
He went on to say that greater capacity had to be found with minimum of effort and as quickly as possible, to secure flights that are lost because of a lack of slots, and to create conditions for the passengers to visit Portugal”.
Carlos Lacerda said the solution to transform Montijo air force base into a secondary airport for the capital was the fastest possibility as the infrastructures already existed.
The ANA chairman said on Tuesday that in future there could be a second runway at Montijo airport, but at the moment works were focusing on strengthening and extending the existing runway.
Addressing a conference in parliament about Lisbon’s new secondary airport, he said the plan is to “upgrade the existing runway”, but said that if needed in the future, the military base would be able to have a second runway.
“There is no plan at the moment for a second runway since the plans are to strengthen the current runway and expand it by 350 metres to just under 2,500 metres. The idea that we are limited by the size of the runway or any other constraint is not true”, he said.
Mr Lacerda also told parliament that the Montijo environmental study was entering into much more detail and it would be concluded by the year’s end.
He explained that using Montijo as a secondary airport for Lisbon was “best” as it was the quickest and cheapest solution that had least operating risks as it was close to the city.
Meanwhile, the Portuguese air force chief of staff has said he was “surprised” with the runway design for the civil airport at Montijo air base, presented by ANA.
General Manuel Rolo was responding to MPs at a parliamentary commission on national defence looking into the air force report on the implications of opening a civil airport at the base.
The study showed there would be “significant constraints” in air force operations as it was expected that there would be 24 movements an hour by 2025.
The general also said there would be “severe operating restrictions” in the short-run, meaning it would be advisable to relocate the squadrons to other bases and just keep the training centre and military transport operations in Montijo.
The political option to use Montijo air base as a secondary airport for Lisbon is also an opportunity, he said, to redistribute the equipment.
One example he gave was that if the air force was given responsibility, as the government foresees, of firefighting capacity, it would be better to congregate the resources in the centre of the country and not in Montijo.