A NEW international airport was mooted for Alcochete as far back as 1972 when a study was carried out by the Marcel Caetano government.
A special department was even set up to examine the various proposals, the Office of the New Lisbon Airport (Gabinete do Novo Aeroporto de Lisboa), which evaluated five different places south of the River Tagus including Rio Frio. The other three suggestions on the table at the time were Fonte da Telha, Porto Alto and Montijo.
The reports looked at operational and weather conditions, average wind speeds and the cost of transforming each site into an airport.
It concluded that Rio Frio and Alcohete were the only two places which would have supported a new, modern airport capable of landing large passenger airliners, one which could eventually have been extended without any restrictions.
Now, over thirty years later, the Ministry of the Environment (Ministério do Ambiente) has once again studied the Rio Frio and Alcochete alternatives, already eliminating the Rio Frio site.
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