Moving Portugal’s Air Force from its Montijo airbase to make way for Lisbon’s planned second airport will cost an estimated €372 million.
The government chose the Montijo air base solution, rather a second airport in Sintra or Alverca, or building a completely new airport at Alcohete, on logistical, cost and speed grounds - all of which rapidly are eroding.
The mayor of Montijo, Nuno Canta, and the president of TAP, Fernando Pinto, publicly have expressed their willingness to get involved and to find solutions to any cost hurdles in converting the Air Force base so today’s announcement that the bill will be €372 million will be no great surprise to those involved.
ANA’s holding company, the French owned Vinci Group, is keen to acquire additional capacity as passenger numbers at Lisbon’s existing Humberto Delgado airport are on track to hit maximum capacity of 23 million travellers next summer.
The estimate includes €20 million to deactivate the airbase including €6.5 million for redeploying NATO equipment. The report predicts the Navy will need €14 million to relocate its helicopters from the Montijo base to another base and that the Army will need €7.7 million to withdraw its current force at Tancos.
The cost study was handed to the government at the end of April and only now has been discussed at a parliamentary hearing with Defence Minister, Azeredo Lopes. The main cost of €242 million is for the decommissioning and relocation of the Alcochete firing range.
The study show it as unfeasible to maintain Air Force aeroplanes at Montijo if there is a civil air service operating - an earlier hope of an increasingly anxious government.
Air Force Chief of Staff, Manuel Rolo, already had warned that civilian and military cohabitation at the Montijo base would only be feasible if the overall number of movements was reduced to such a level that neither party could operate efficiently.
Successive governments have dodged the reality that Lisbon needs a second airport, leaving it too late to cater for expected demand.
This poor planning, despite years of reports and assessments, with Montijo operational as a civil airport at the earliest in 2021, will put additional stress on Lisbon airport’s infrastructure, staff and security services until a decision is made, the Air Force moves out and the builders move in.
