The group of experts tasked with the strategic environmental assessment for the planned new Lisbon airport will look at five possible solutions, and may propose more if it sees fit, Infrastructure and Housing Minister Pedro Nuno Santos said on Thursday.

At the end of the weekly cabinet meeting, the minister said that both single locations and dual solutions – encompassing the city’s existing facility – will be studied by the Technical Commission set up for the purpose.

Among the solutions under discussion is one whereby the existing Humberto Delgado Airport remains the city’s main airport. At the same time, a new facility at Montijo, on the south bank of the River Tagus, serves as a complementary one.

Another solution that is being proposed is the one in which Montijo gradually acquires the status of main airport and Humberto Delgado the complementary one, while a third one consists of Alcochete, also on the south bank, to fully replace Humberto Delgado.

A fourth proposed solution is the one in which Alcochete will be the main airport and a new site at Santarém – some 70 kilometres north of Lisbon – houses a complementary one. The fifth solution, however, consists Santarém fully replacing Humberto Delgado.

The issue of how to handle growing air traffic has prompted years of debate, with a succession of governments being unable to come to a definitive conclusion about the plan.

(Alexandra Noronha/Lusa.pt)

Source: Euractiv.com