By: CECÍLIA PIRES
A NEW international airport is expected to be built in the western Algarve. This is one of the main priorities for Associação de Municípios Lagos-Portimão, an association recently created by the two câmaras.
The location for the new airport will be near the International Algarve Racing Circuit, at Sítio do Escampadinho, close to Mexilhoeira Grande, in Portimão. According to the project promoters, the proximity to the racing track is one of the main incentives to attract foreign investment.
The project location has already been given the green light from experts of the Instituto Nacional de Aviação Civil, Portugal’s Civil Aviation Authority. The planning for the future structure, which includes environmental and financial studies, began this month and is expected to be finished in August.
The new airport is expected to have a longer and wider runaway than Faro Airport, with almost three kilometers in length and a passenger friendly arrival and departure area. The airport will be an upgrading of the existing Municipal Aerodrome, which has a runway of only 900 meters.
Optimistic
According to Manuel da Luz, President of Portimão Câmara and of the new Associação de Municípios Lagos-Portimão, the objective is to “attract low cost and private airlines to land in the region so that hotel clients come directly to this specific region”, without the need to use the bus transfer service.
António Pina, the new president of the Região de Turismo do Algarve (RTA), the Regional Tourism Board, is also optimistic about the project. “It will complement Faro Airport,” he told The Resident. “I’ve always regarded these local projects as excellent opportunities for tourism development in the Algarve, even when I was Faro’s Civil Governor.”
The Resident spoke with Lesley Miller, who lives in Portimão’s hinterland, not far from the location planned for the airport. “It’s going to be a little noisier and the air will be more polluted, however, if it improves local infrastructures, like roads, and brings more jobs to the area, I believe it will be a very good thing.”
“The country is changing and younger people are leaving rural areas due to a lack of jobs,” Lesley added. She believes that with such projects “people will want to stay”.
According to the new Plano Regional de Ordenamento do Território do Algarve (PROTAL), the regional plan for development in the Algarve, already approved by the Portuguese government, the region will have three small airports.
Until now, only Loulé Câmara has prepared a similar project for private luxury aircraft and another one is expected for the eastern Algarve, between Faro and Vila Real de Santo António, but still no project has been publicly announced.
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