Portugal’s airports saw passenger numbers grow 4.9% in 2013 compared to the year before.
According to figures released on Wednesday by the National Statistics Institute, 32.6 million passengers used the nation’s airports last year.
The number of aircraft rose 1.5% with 149,600 flights landing and taking off.
Lisbon held on to the number one spot with 49% of passengers using the capital’s airport, an increase of nearly 5% compared to 2012; while the airports serving Oporto and the Algarve saw rises of 5.3% and 5.4%.
Faro has a market share of 18% while Madeira and the Azores carried 10.4% of national traffic.
This all good news for the French owners of airport management company ANA, which was sold by the government as part of its privatisation obligations to the Troika of lenders that organised Portugal’s bailout.
Landing charges, ground rents and sharp rises in costs for airport based businesses have enabled ANA to use its unregulated monopoly position substantially to raise revenues and make large cash contributions to its parent Vinci Group which paid over €3 billion for ANA.
Beja airport (pictured) stands out as the lame duck in this scenario which is controlled by ANA which appears to have little or no interest in promoting or developing the site as the jewel in the Alentejo’s structural crown.
Tourism chiefs and local councils across the Alentejo region are unable to develop their business plans to turn the area into a holiday destination unless the airport management company adopts strategies that will encourage carriers to add Beja to their list of destinations.
