The government reached an agreement with the Air Force on the release of airspace in Lisbon

Infrastructure Minister Joao Galamba said this Friday that an agreement had been reached with the Air Force to free up airspace in Lisbon in order to improve the operation of Humberto Delgado airport.

“We have already reached an agreement with the Air Force to vacate the airspace,” said the official, who is being heard in the Assembly of the Republic at the request of the PAN in a joint hearing of the Department of Environment and Energy and the Committees on the Economy, Public Works, Planning and Housing.

Joao Galamba added that “an opinion has already been requested from ANAC.” [Autoridade Nacional da Aviação Civil] evaluate the possibility of diverting service flights to Tires airport in the municipality of Cascais, which is one of the measures proposed by the Working Group on the Study and Evaluation of Night Traffic at Humberto Delgado Airport.

According to the Minister of Infrastructure, this is “a solution that pleases the mayor of Cascais” Carlos Carreiras (PSD).

Galamba also said that these Lisbon Airport improvement measures, which help reduce noise and also have positive implications for TAP’s operations, are “either already implemented or ongoing” and reiterated that the government “will ensure that ANA makes investments, which she is contractually obligated to do.”

The Minister of Infrastructure said on Feb. 14 that it was “time for ANA to invest” in Lisbon Airport as air space congestion problems are being addressed.

“This investment [novo sistema de controlo de tráfego aéreo] together with the processes we are doing with the Air Force, in terms of unloading and freeing up airspace in the Lisbon area, allow us to improve the work, and also allow us to create conditions for ANA to fulfill its concession contract and fulfill, as soon as possible, with specific investment commitments set out in Annex 9, as well as the general obligations of its concession agreement, which basically obliges ANA to make the necessary investments to keep up with demand,” the Minister of Infrastructure said. , Joao Galamba.

The minister spoke on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony for the Topsky air traffic control system and the air traffic control room at NAV Portugal’s Lisbon air traffic control centre.

“ANA has said many times that it did not invest [no aeroporto de Lisboa] without solving these problems. We are solving problems, it’s time for ANA to make investments,” the minister stressed.

João Galamba explained that “airspace issues” as well as “small physical space improvements” are being discussed with the Air Force.

The minister stressed that Humberto Delgado Airport “will remain the only” airport in Lisbon for the foreseeable future, and therefore “it is obviously important to improve the operation as much as possible”, not so much in terms of increasing capacity, but in order to reduce delays.

“Many of the operational restrictions and the famous TAP delays are primarily due to the difficulties and restrictions at the Lisbon airport,” Galamba recalled.