Plan for new Lisbon airport blocked, government pushes for solution

Portugal’s aviation regulator on Tuesday refused to evaluate a plan to build a new airport in Lisbon, in the latest setback for one of the country’s largest infrastructure projects, but the government said it would push for a solution. The country’s tourism industry, where growth was brought to a halt last year by the COVID-19 pandemic, has complained for years about a lack of capacity at Lisbon’s Portela airport. A new airport at Montijo on the southern bank of the Tagus River was proposed as a second hub. Plans for the new airport have been under consideration for five decades and the government said in 2019 the Montijo airport, where there is already a military air base, would be completed next year. But the regulator ANAC said it had rejected the evaluation request submitted by airport authority ANA as not all municipalities in and around the new airport were happy with the plans, with some citing environmental concerns.<br/>