Faro airport works to increase passenger capacipy

Building work at Faro Airport could create between 200 and 300 direct new jobs. The prediction comes from the Minister for Public Works, Mário Lino.

The announcement was made today during the signing of the contract for the first part of the project for developing Faro Airport.

Mário Lino said that they needed to make the investment as it was important for economic development, because it created jobs and it was a way of combating the economic crisis.

The Minister said that he was also confident that, even if the economic crisis caused a drop in passenger traffic, this would be a temporary situation and the country had to think about measures for the medium to long term.

In the first phase, to be implemented between March 2009 and the first half of 2011, the investment, which amounts to some 130 million euros, will involve the remodelling and extension of the operational areas.

The building work will include an increase in operational security with the implementation of the ILS (Instrument Landing System) on runway 10 (direction Qta do Lago - Faro), equipping it with safer conditions for aircraft to land.

The safety strip on runway 28 (direction Olhão-Faro) will also be extended to the south, and it is planned to create about ten new parking positions for aeroplanes, allowing for an increase in air traffic.

The second phase, beginning by January 2011 and with completion scheduled for 2013, will include work on the terminal building, with an increase in the commercial areas and the adaptation of public areas to the new type of passengers and visitors, and on the access routes by land to the airport.

The building work will enable the maximum passenger capacity to increase from 6 to 8 million, and will, according to the chairman of the board of directors of ANA, the company that manages Portuguese airports, stimulate demand for the Algarve as a destination, and mitigate the effects of seasonality.

The remodelling of the airport will also include the construction of a hotel in the area surrounding the structure, whose aim is to increase the airport’s capacity to attract new airlines and routes.

source: Agência Lusa