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Beja airport is often referred to as the ‘unused Portuguese airport’. What a waste, and you have to ask, why is the government thinking of building a new airport when Beja stands there almost unused.
The airbase was established in 1964, originally built to serve as a training facility for the West German Air Force, due to airspace limitations within West Germany. It’s often said that it was an American airbase, but it wasn’t. Until 1993 it was used particularly for weapons training, and in 1987 the Portuguese Air Force’s 103 Squadron and its Lockheed T-33 and Northrop T-38 aircraft was relocated from Montijo. After their arrival, the base started to host a mixed array of fixed and rotary-wing trainers, as well as maritime patrol aircraft. The airbase has also served as one of the Space Shuttle landing sites.
It looks like a reality check needs to be done. Beja is a very good airport, very well situated between the Algarve and Lisbon and it has a 3.4 kilometre runway, the longest runway in Portugal. It’s long enough for any known passenger or transport aircraft. It has a new EUR33 million EU-funded civilian Terminal opened in 2011
So what’s the problem?
The oft quoted problem is that of access by rail or road. This problem is a lot cheaper to resolve than building a new airport, let alone a runway of this length and capacity. A rail station located inside the airport is considered a must these days. Is that a problem? Not if you consider that the Intercity rail line from Lisbon to Beja passes only a few hundred metres to the east of the airport. Is it an insurmountable problem, or challenge, to lay a branch line into the airport terminal. Lisbon Beja trains could easily pass the airport terminal and then return back to the main line to carry on to Lisbon or Beja. It wouldn’t even be necessary to add extra trains until the traffic growth justified it.
The Linha do Alentejo
A rail connection would be a bigger problem, or would it? There is an existing line known as the ‘Linha do Alentejo’. This line terminates at Funcheira where it meets the high speed Lisbon Algarve line. Two public tenders were published in Diário da República for the development of Studies and Projects for the Modernization of the Alentejo Line, integrated in the National Investment Plan - PNI2030. Within the scope of these two tenders, the Modernization project for the section between Casa Branca - Beja will be developed, the study of the execution of a Railway Connection to Beja Airport was included. This was 2021, not long ago.
What about the roads?
This is probably a more costly undertaking, but the IP8 passes close to the airport and connects to the A2/IP1 motorway. This would need to be extended to a dual carriageway, not impossible
This would give fast road access both from the north and the south. Again you have to observe that extending an existing road is a far less expensive option that building a new airport, which would need road and rail anyway.
Take off and landing over countryside not a city centre
As convenient as Lisbon airport is, it’s still a major international airport situated almost in the centre of a city. Safety has always been a concern, though it must be said, there has never been an ‘incident’. However, current wisdom says build airports outside cities. Beja airport offers both takes off and landing over open countryside. Although Beja is close, the runway faces south and north, Beja is to the East.
Beja airport has a lot of plusses
Who would use Beja. Almost certainly it wouldn’t be TAP. They have all their infrastructure, maintenance, hangers, headquarters in and around Lisbon airport. It’s their ‘home’. If road and rail connections were resolved, the likely candidates would be the low cost airlines who serve Lisbon. Faro serves the Algarve well and has plenty of space. Lisbon needs space, and Beja has got it. Just look at airports serving London, they are all (except London City) situated outside the capital with a one hour journey. Luton still does not have a rail terminal in the airport, yet it’s a very busy airport.
Currently Lisbon to Beja is 176 km with a journey time of about two hours. With road and rail improvements this could probably be cut to around a little more than one hour, and that makes Beja airport a very attractive alternative for the low cost airlines. Almost certainly landing fees would be substantially cheaper, always an attraction for a low cost airline. Airport management is in the hands of ANA (Vinci), the same as Lisbon and Faro. They are very professional operators of airports around the world. If the government asks them to make it work and provide the infrastructure to get passengers there quickly and efficiently, there is little doubt that they could do this, and do it well.
Beja is ready to go with three hours notice
The Beja airport management say that they are able to receive any aircraft, of any size and capacity with three hours notice. The alternative projects for a second Lisbon airport are still within a time frame of about three years planning and handling protests mainly from environmental groups. Once approved, if indeed they are approved, there will be another three years of construction, at least. You won’t need to get your calculator out to work out the difference between three hours and probably three plus three years for alternatives to ‘get off the ground’.
Sort out the transport links and use the facilities that are already up and running.
Resident in Portugal for 50 years, publishing and writing about Portugal since 1977. Privileged to have seen, firsthand, Portugal progress from a dictatorship (1974) into a stable democracy.
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I agree, they should develop the area around Beja Airport, with modern infrastructure, facilities, roads, highways, railways, restaurants, hotels, etc, and etc, and use Beja Airport. It's outside the city, and the pollution, and noise from aircraft, and traffic will stay outside the city. It would also boost the economy, with new projects, and investment, and money from tourism.
By Tony from Other on 12 Mar 2023, 00:58
All operations from the current Lisbon airport should be moved to a new airport, but not Beja. The author uses London as an example and mistakenly states that the train time from London’s main airports to the center is an hour. That’s patently false. Heathrow Express takes 15 minutes, and runs every 15 minutes. The new Elizabeth Line take 35 minutes, also with great frequency. Busses and taxis are under an hour. So please don’t distort the facts to try to make an unreasonable proposal (Beja) look less ridiculous.
No one wants a new airport in the middle of nowhere that takes TWO HOURS to drive to…or 90 minutes by INFREQUENT train service. With frequent CP strikes, and delayed flights, do you want to be stranded in Beja at midnight? Or catch a 6am flight out, requiring you to leave your Lisbon hotel at 1am to return your car rental? Come on…
We deserve better than this. And simply moving “low fare” airlines to Beja, while keeping TAP (and its successor) operating at Lisbon makes even less sense. You think we want to pay the costs to keep two airports serving Lisbon? The entire existing airport, dangerously located (including noise and pollution impacts) in the center of the Lisbon metropolis, must be retired and repurposed in a way to benefit the city. This requires a solution that will benefit from existing population centers for labor, infrastructure (rail, highways), and not a pie-in-the-sky, expensive, distant option in no-man’s land.
“We have this perfectly good airport two hours away…” isn’t going to work. Sorry to the Alentejo politicians and land speculators. Your idea sucks. Big time.
By Alexandre from Lisbon on 12 Mar 2023, 02:57
Just to let you know the A26 runs halfway from Beja to the A2 and on to Sines. The completed section is amazing… it just needs the existing IP8 to be modernised.
By Justin West from Alentejo on 12 Mar 2023, 12:58
The only logical but also geographical situation that makes sense would be around Coimbra. Its around 1 Hr by train from OPO and around 1 hour 30 min from LIS. Since the country has airports in the north, the capital and the very south its quite bullocks to have another airport in the south since LIS in counting is already south. Surely the politicians will decide again Coimbra but also put in mind that they get paid by companies to do so...
By Fab from Other on 12 Mar 2023, 17:10
Well Beja makes the most sense, the distance from the air is only 130 km between Lisbon city center and Beja airport.
Instead of building trains/roads, it would be even more innovative to use eVTOL shuttles (which could also boost Portugals domestic aerospace industry).
Simply convert Lisbon airport into the national eVTOL transport hub, then set up eVTOL city hubs in all important cities/towns.
(eVTOL = electric vertical take off landing aircraft)
By thePM from Lisbon on 13 Mar 2023, 08:57
Beja is much too far away from Lisbon. Why compare it to London, it's a completely different situation. Who wants to travel two hours before even arriving at the airport ? ( most people would have to take at least two different trains, so the one-hour commuter assumption is completely irrealistic). One commentator suggested Coimbra which is even more ridiculous. The most feasible (if one insists, like the author) of relocating all low cost airlines) would be Cascais airport which is only 30 km West of Lisbon. It's already a business jet airport, it would need a larger terminal, some runway extension and additional railway and motorway ramps which are already in planning (at least partially). And it would reachable within 45 minutes from downtown Lisbon.
By Gilbert Drui from Other on 13 Mar 2023, 12:16
Easy...because the same people that complay about people on social benefits, want to buy a second Ferrari at the exoense of the tax payers
By akex dias from Lisbon on 13 Mar 2023, 12:58
In May 2020 - 2021, our company researched the exact subject-matter of your article. Not only did we come to the same conclusion, we prepared a complete report entitled The Economic Recovery Triangle Revision May 15, 2021
A Proposal under Portugal’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP),
National Energy and Climate Plan and the European Green Deal.
The Economic Triangle (gold) represents the three major infrastructure areas of capital investment. This included improvements to Beja Airport and both an international passenger terminal and a 3,000,000 sq ft state-of-the-art air cargo distribution center, alternative energy production to power the facility, high-speed rail terminal serving Lisbon and Port Sine; and an off-shore deep water LNG terminal at Port Sine which would have given Portugal a major economic seat at the E.U. Commission table and added 15% employment nationally. Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears, as most other proposals that benefit the Portuguese population but not the politicians. This presentation is available at your request.
circle (gold) represents the sphere of regional economic influence directly attributed to the capital investments.
By Dan Geiger from USA on 13 Mar 2023, 17:27
Beja certainly has a lot going for it as a commercial airport, but this article also outlines its drawbacks, which are significant but not insurmountable. Its development would be good for the local region but most people flying south of Lisbon (and you may fly directly over the very visible Beja airport as you do so) are heading for the Algarve, and Beja is just too far north for them - so much easier just to continue on to Faro.
I believe a short rail connection to Luton Airport in the UK - the Luton DART - has just opened, in fact. I read that it's even more expensive to travel on per mile than the Heathrow Express train - and when HEX was opened it was said to be more expensive per mile than Concorde!
By David Collins from UK on 15 Mar 2023, 16:07