In the note released, the Government indicated that “through the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing, it made available on 20 March the Response Letter to the concessionaire ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal (ANA), following the delivery, on 16 January 2026, of the Selected Site Report and Environmental Impact Study, referring to the new Lisbon airport (NAL) – Luís de Camões Airport”.

According to the supervisory authority, the delivery by ANA of this report “constitutes the second of four interim reports to be included in the complete application for NAL, whose maximum deadline is January 2028”.

Unanimous Choice

The Government expressed its agreement with the choice of location for the infrastructure, “next to the eastern end of the Alcochete Shooting Range, reiterating that this location corresponds to the preferred solution studied by the CTI [Independent Technical Commission] and coincides with the solution that, in 2010, obtained a conditionally favourable Environmental Impact Statement”.

The Government stressed the importance of the Environmental Impact Study, to be delivered in July to the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), “integrating the relevant background, including the procedure that culminated in the positive Environmental Impact Statement in 2010, as well as the conclusions of the CTI's Strategic Environmental Assessment”, also pointing out the need for coordination with the municipalities involved.

Regarding the updated Master Plan, the Government noted “positively the work developed by the concessionaire, which already integrates the changes in the minimum specifications of the NAL preliminarily agreed”, but identifies aspects that should be reviewed, such as “the need to reconfigure the ‘Pier Swing’, in order to ensure greater operational flexibility”.

However, the supervisory body “reiterated its reservations regarding the traffic projections presented by the concessionaire, considering that they do not reflect the evolution of the sector nor the potential demand associated with the new airport.”

For the Government, “the assumptions used are very conservative,” which, it considers, could “compromise the correct sizing of the NAL, and it is therefore essential that the concessionaire revise the projections.”

In the statement, the Government recalled that the next steps are the delivery of the technical report by 16 July 2026 and the submission of the environmental impact study to the Portuguese Environment Agency in July.

“It is important to emphasise that the communication sent to the Concessionaire does not constitute formal acceptance of the complete application, which will be evaluated under the terms stipulated in the Concession Contract,” it stressed.