Speaking at the parliamentary committee on Environment and Energy, Pimenta Machado said that ANA, Aeroportos de Portugal presented an action plan in November 2024 to be in force until 2029 and that “based on the elements provided, it is not satisfactory”, adding that within the legal deadlines, up to 20 February, ANA will be notified of the need for changes to the plan.

The president of APA also said that in September last year, APA notified the General Inspectorate of Agriculture, Sea, Environment and Spatial Planning (IGAMAOT) of ANA's failure to comply with commitments it had made in the previous action plan for 2019-2023.

This plan, against noise, contained 34 measures but ANA never put three of them into practice. Pimenta Machado but also Ana Teresa Peres, who at the time was a member of the APA (she left at the end of last year), said that almost all the measures were implemented except the most important ones, namely the building soundproofing program, so IGAMAOT was notified, as it is the entity with the authority to instruct proceedings and apply fines.

The programs (such as the so-called Bairro Program), from ANA's action plan against noise, for acoustic insulation interventions in sensitive buildings (such as schools or hospitals) but also in other buildings, provided for two phases, one starting in January 2021 and another in January 2022.

“ANA postponed the start of the program”, first because of the Covid-19 pandemic and then because of funding issues, so in July 2024, at the end of the program, nothing had started, and the surveys had not been carried out either for the populations neighbouring the airport that were planned, explained Ana Teresa Peres.

Controversy

Regarding the controversial issue of whether or not an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is necessary to increase the capacity of Humberto Delgado airport, which the Government says is not necessary but which the APA says is necessary, Pimenta Machado reaffirmed the need for this EIA.

The APA received two requests for classification on two projects, one in September 2023 and the other in October 2024, said Pimenta Machado, explaining that the first is related to passenger comfort, works to, in short, avoid buses concluding that the impact was not significant.

The project presented in October includes interventions in the area outside the runway (the faster connection between the runway and the terminal) and intervention that leads to an increase in the number of flights, and this, the person in charge stressed, has a “significant impact”, so in December it was concluded that an EIA was necessary.

When questioned by the deputies, Pimenta Machado also clarified that it is not up to the APA to monitor the repeated non-compliance with the period of night flights without planes, but rather up to ANAC (National Civil Aviation Agency).