FAQ

It is the planned new airport for Lisbon, to be built at the Campo de Tiro de Alcochete, a military firing range east of the Tagus estuary, mostly in the municipality of Benavente. It is intended to replace Humberto Delgado Airport completely.

The site has been chosen by law (RCM 66/2024). The airport itself has not been approved: the environmental assessment is open, the concession application is incomplete, and on 28 September 2026 the Government said its response to the technical report was not acceptance of the application.

At the eastern end of the Campo de Tiro de Alcochete, according to the Government’s March 2026 validation. The precise footprint of runways and terminal has not been published, so the observatory’s map shows only the firing range’s outline and known reference points.

APA’s environmental register for process AIA 3982 lists Benavente and Montijo. Road and rail links will affect other municipalities on both banks of the Tagus.

The Government announced in May 2024 that it had decided to name the airport after Luís de Camões, Portugal’s national poet. The observatory has not yet confirmed whether the name is fixed in a legal instrument.

ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal, a VINCI Airports company that holds the concession for Portugal’s main airports, is the project proponent. Under the concession contract it must submit a complete application that the Government will assess. No construction contractors had been identified at the baseline date.

It is the package ANA must deliver under its concession contract to build the new airport. It is built from four interim reports — consultation (July 2025), selected site and environment, technical (July 2026) and financial (due 16 January 2027) — and must be delivered in final form by 16 January 2028 at the latest.

It praised the technical work but asked ANA for alternative demand scenarios, further demonstration of runway and taxiway configuration and Code F compatibility, and a clear expansion strategy, including a justification for dropping the earlier second terminal or satellite. It stressed that the response is not formal acceptance of the application.

On the published calendar: the financial report on 16 January 2027 and the complete application by 16 January 2028. The environmental assessment runs separately at APA, with no consultation dates published at the baseline date. These are scheduled steps, not guarantees.

No. The concession procedure does not provide for a formal decision on interim reports. The Government’s responses of March and September 2026 are comments and requests; the binding decisions come later, on the complete application and in the environmental decision.

No. It is an independent observatory, not affiliated with ANA, VINCI Airports or the Portuguese Government. It uses no official logos and links every claim to a source.

Use the contact form, or the ‘Report an error’ link at the foot of any record. Material corrections are published on the corrections page with the original statement, the correction and the date; nothing is silently erased.

The July 2026 schedule says ‘from 2035’, after construction in 2029–2033 and then tests and certification. That is a target, not a guaranteed date. A longer programme with opening in 2037 has been reported, but the observatory has not found a primary source for it.

Yes. In May 2024 the Government said the first runway should be built by 2030 and the second by 2031. The July 2026 schedule moved construction to 2029–2033 and opening to ‘from 2035’. The observatory records both; a revised target is a change, not by itself proof of failure.

The target is 2029. No construction contract or works authorisation had been identified at the baseline date, and the firing-range land is to be released in phases by 2029.

Yes. In September 2026 it said it wanted to work with ANA to shorten timescales and bring the opening forward compared with the calendar the concessionaire currently proposes.

Two in the initial phase, according to the July 2026 design. The 2024 strategic recommendation allowed for expansion to four runways in the long term; that is a different scenario.

About 500,000 m², with 64 boarding gates and 72 contact boarding bridges. VINCI also cites 120 aircraft stands and 194 self-service kiosks. These are proposals under review.

ANA’s July 2026 report dropped the second terminal or satellite in its earlier report. Growth then depends on extending one building. The Government asked ANA to justify the change and show how the airport can scale, including the pre-installations and the triggers for each phase.

No. They are concept images released with a design that is still under review. The observatory does not republish them without a licence and labels all concept imagery as ‘not an approved design’.

ANA says the airport was conceived as a ‘Net Zero’ building. It has not defined which emissions are covered or how they will be measured, so the observatory records it as an aspiration.

Code F is the largest aircraft category in the international aerodrome reference code, used for aircraft with the widest wingspans. Runways, taxiways and stands must be designed for it. In September 2026 the Government asked ANA to demonstrate full Code F compatibility.

56 million a year at opening, with growth to 85 million, according to the July 2026 design. A separate 2024 strategic scenario spoke of traffic that may exceed 100 million by 2050. The Government asked for alternative demand scenarios in September 2026.

No airline agreements have been found in the sources reviewed. Airlines were among more than 100 bodies consulted in 2025, and the Government has asked ANA to keep working closely with them.

It stays open, with capacity improvements, until the new airport is operational. The 2024 decision aimed to raise it to 45 movements an hour, and ANA is carrying out terminal works under a programme of more than €300 million.

The technical report estimates €7.9–8.9 billion at 2024 prices. It is a range estimate, not a fixed-price contract, and it is not stated whether it includes land, the military relocation, rail, the Third Tagus Crossing, roads, financing costs, inflation or contingency.

The figure is expressed in the value of money in 2024. Costs actually paid in later years will be in nominal euros, which include inflation. A 2024-price estimate cannot be compared with a later nominal budget without recalculation.

The figures are not directly comparable. The 2024 announcement gave €6,105 million for two runways, without stating scope or price base; the 2026 estimate covers ANA’s airport project at 2024 prices. The observatory shows them side by side but does not subtract one from the other.

ANA plans to raise about €7 billion through debt and proposes progressive airport-charge increases at Humberto Delgado between 2026 and 2030. The financing was not settled at the baseline date; the financial report is due on 16 January 2027. Whether any public money is involved is not established.

ANA proposes progressively increasing airport charges at Humberto Delgado in 2026–2030. How much of that reaches ticket prices depends on airlines and on the regulatory process for charges, which the observatory has not yet documented.

A June 2026 resolution authorised up to €4.5 million plus VAT for demilitarisation work at the current range. The full cost of the replacement range in Alter do Chão has not been found in the sources reviewed.

The plan is a dedicated rail link via a new Third Tagus Crossing between Chelas and Lavradio, with about 20 minutes to central Lisbon and a station with four tracks and three platforms linked to long-distance trains. It is a proposal with a 2034 opening target.

No. It is an advertised journey time for a line that has not been built or approved. The exact city-centre terminus was not specified in the sources reviewed.

The rail target (2034) is earlier than the airport target (from 2035), but they are separate projects with separate decisions. Synchronisation is not guaranteed.

A proposed new road-rail bridge across the Tagus between Chelas (Lisbon) and the Barreiro/Lavradio area. Infraestruturas de Portugal treats it as part of the Lisbon–Madrid high-speed line, which also serves the airport.

Not in any approved geometry the observatory has found. The sources name the endpoints (Chelas and Barreiro/Lavradio); the map shows those endpoints only and draws no alignment.

250 km of new roads (ANA says more than 250 km) and more than 50 km of upgrades, including links from the EN4, EN10 and EN119, the A33 to the A12 and A13, the IC13 to Ponte de Sor and Alter do Chão, dualling the EN118 and improving the EN119.

No. ANA delivered the study to APA on 31 July 2026 (process AIA 3982). On 18 October 2026 the register showed no consultation dates and no decision. No environmental permit should be assumed.

According to ANA: water resources, noise, ecological systems, air quality, population health and socioeconomics, with minimisation and compensation measures. It runs to about 5,000 pages and was prepared by more than 60 specialists over 18 months.

Not yet, as far as the public register shows. Public participation happens during APA’s public consultation, whose dates were not set on the register at the baseline date. The observatory will publish the dates when they appear.

An earlier airport solution there received a conditional favourable environmental declaration in 2010. It has lapsed and does not cover the current design, which is being assessed in its own process.

The firing range is public land, which the Government cited as an advantage over Vendas Novas. Whether any private land is needed for the airport, roads or rail has not been established in the sources reviewed. Preventive land-use measures (RCM 30/2026) apply in areas linked to the airport.

Temporary legal restrictions on land use and building in defined areas, adopted to keep options open for a public project. RCM 30/2026 set measures linked to the airport; the exact area and duration are to be confirmed from the text.

To Alter do Chão, announced by the Ministry of National Defence in March 2026, for a new range of about 7,500 hectares with the municipal council’s support.

In 2024 the Government said the airport would catalyse economic activity in the Arco Ribeirinho Sul through links between airport, rail and road, including access to Sines. These are stated expectations, not measured outcomes.

In May 2024 the Government said Alcochete is entirely on public land (Vendas Novas would require expropriations), had a previous environmental declaration (since lapsed), is closer to central Lisbon and nearer the main road and rail links.

A complementary airport at the Montijo air base was proposed in earlier years and later abandoned in favour of a single new airport. The Government argued in 2024 that a two-airport solution would double negative environmental effects. Montijo still appears as a municipality in the environmental register.

An Independent Technical Commission examined strategic options, including Alcochete and Vendas Novas, before the Government’s 2024 choice. Its material is on the Aeroparticipa portal.