According to the ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal website, between 6:10 am and 12:00 pm, almost two dozen flights were cancelled, including landings and take-offs, and several flights were delayed. Four flights had to divert to other airports.

The same situation occurred on Monday, May 26, the day on which NAV Portugal told the Lusa news agency that the fog that had been felt that morning in the Porto area “had some impact on operations at Sá Carneiro Airport, with deviations recorded in the first two hours of operation”.

“It is important to highlight that the instrument landing system at Porto Airport is temporarily out of service as scheduled due to ongoing works on that infrastructure”, stated the company responsible for air traffic management.

On Monday, NAV explained that “the combination of the temporary unavailability of the ILS and the reduced visibility conditions explains the restrictions observed” that day, which were verified again today.

NAV also said that the situation at Porto Airport “was communicated in a timely manner to all air operators and is in line with the usual planning for this type of intervention”.

The works are scheduled to take place until February 2026.

As happened on Monday, Lusa again asked ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal today how many flights were affected and when the ILS will be operational again, but, so far, the airport manager has not responded.

On May 27, 2024, ANA announced that the reinforcement of the runway at Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport, in Maia, Porto district, would begin on July 31 of that year, adding that the project would take 19 months and would involve an investment of 50 million euros.

ANA explained that the works aimed to “reinforce the operational conditions of the airport, this being the largest intervention carried out on the runway of this infrastructure”.

The intervention on the runway and adjacent areas includes complete resurfacing of the wear layer of runway 17-35, structural reinforcement interventions on the runway, adjustment of the geometry of the runway (strip), and on the approach line (light signaling) of runways 17 and 35, as well as the replacement of the runway lighting systems with LEDs.

The work also includes a complete renovation of the runway drainage system and the installation of civil infrastructure for the installation of navigation equipment (ILS category II) on runway 35, which will allow operations in low visibility.