In 2017 passenger traffic at Humberto Delgado airport rose by 18.8% year-on-year to a total of 26.7 million passengers.

Following his speech at a conference on air navigation in Lisbon, Secretary of State Guilherme W. d'Oliveira Martins said the projection of 29 million passengers was a "good number," which "represents a great effort by the economy, with an impact on tourism."

"But there is still a lot of work to do," said the Secretary of State, noting the Government's commitment to increase the airport capacity of the Lisbon region and to "improve the numbers."

The increase, d'Oliveira Martins said, involves the conversion of the military base of Montijo for use in civil aviation and investments in Humberto Delgado airport.

To increase the number of passengers the government needs to finalise an agreement with airport manager ANA, which is expected to happen "very soon," according to d'Oliveira Martins, without specifying dates.