The presentation of the “strategic and multidisciplinary analysis report of the increase in airport capacity in the Lisbon region”, according to a statement from the commission led by Rosário Partidário, will take place on the 5th of next month during the 3rd CTI conference, which will be held at the Congress Center of the National Civil Engineering Laboratory (LNEC), in Lisbon.

The strategic and multidisciplinary analysis of this report focuses on the five solutions to increase airport capacity in the Lisbon region, initially considered in the Council of Ministers, to which the CTI added four more, making a total of nine solutions.

A solution that the Council of Ministers approved last year, defined the creation of a CTI to analyse five hypotheses for the Lisbon airport but predicted that other options could be added.

The report will then be up for public consultation for 30 working days, which the CTI, after evaluating “the rationality, merit, opportunity and technical convenience of each of these components, in light of the critical factors for the decision”, will then make the final report.

With the development of this final report, the CTI will be complete.

The five options initially considered include dual solutions, in which Humberto Delgado airport (AHD) will have the status of a main airport and Montijo will have the status of a complementary airport; the alternative would be for Montijo to progressively acquire the status of the main airport and for AHD to have complementary airport status or the construction of an international airport at Campo de Tiro de Alcochete (CTA), to replace the AHD; another dual solution is where the AHD will have the status of the main airport and an airport located in Santarém as a complement; and the construction of a new international airport located in Santarém which will fully replace the AHD.

To these options, CTI added four more, AHD + Campo de Tiro de Alcochete; Vendas Novas + Pegões; AHD + Vendas Novas-Pegões and Rio Frio + Poceirão.

The strategic assessment for each of these options takes into account “five critical decision factors”, aeronautical safety, accessibility and territory, human health and environmental viability, connectivity, economic development, public investment and operating model.

In statements to Lusa made at the end of September, Rosário Partidário reiterated that the final decision belongs to the Government, recalling that the independent technical commission has “a mandate to evaluate strategic options” which involves “evaluating, informing the decision maker, guidance, advice and recommendations” for making the decision.

“If the decision-maker wants to give more importance to “aeronautical safety” or “to public investment and financing, or to health and environmental viability, they are naturally free to do so”, he then explained.