"I don't have any optimism regarding Lisbon airport. I don't have optimism for a variety of reasons. Firstly, let's see what the Environmental Impact Study will show, which will have to be redone", he told journalists in Esposende.

For the mayor of Porto, the proposed location for the airport (Campo de Tiro de Alcochete) "has as many problems as Montijo", namely being "one of the largest aquifers in Europe" and "the problem of birds or migration between the Tagus and Sado estuaries", as well as the existence of "tens of thousands of cork oaks".

"In my opinion, the location is wrong, because it is an excessively long distance from the capital, and then because it is an airport that is expected to experience something like a tripling of traffic", something he doubts, "without putting into doubt the competence of the independent commission" which considered Alcochete the best location.

Questioning "where do so many people come from", Rui Moreira said he could not "imagine how Lisbon and the Setúbal Peninsula will have the capacity to have three times as many people", considering that this is not "reasonable".

"I know that there are a lot of people who think that people from Porto shouldn't give opinions on things in Lisbon, but this is a national project", which is why he based his opinion on studies commissioned when he was president of the Porto Commercial Association (ACP).

The mayor of Porto also said that there is "another problem" with the new airport, which is "having an airline that believes" in a large international hub.

"I don't know what will happen to TAP. I don't know if TAP will have the muscle, whatever the future of TAP, to justify a 'hub'", he considered.

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