Lisbon: New airport could be built quickly

After way more than a decade of planning, picking, rejecting and resurveying, the slowpoke process of building a new airport for Lisbon may now suddenly be on the fast-track, driven by World Cup football.

The chosen location, a former airbase at Alcochete, was finalized last month, with a prediction that it would open, at the earliest, in 2034. Now, according to the chair of the technical commission that was responsible for sifting through the alternative, it could be ready by 2030, in time for the 2030 World Cup, for which Lisbon is one of the host cities.

Rosario Partidario told journalists that “It is feasible [to build the new airport by 2030] if there is planning, organization and quick decisions.” He pointed out that major initiatives in the past have been spurred to early completion by major events. “Portugal, in all the major initiatives it has had, always has a very strong motivation factor. Either it’s Expo 98, or it’s the Youth Days. And, perhaps, it’s good to have the World Cup as a justification for having an infrastructure like this prepared to receive the demand that will eventually exist.”