Beja International Airport can serve Lisbon, the Algarve and even «Spanish Extremadura». This is the conviction of the researcher at the University of Algarve Manuel Tão, who carried out a study on the potential of this airport infrastructure.
this monday an Airbus A380 lands on the Alentejo airport infrastructure, «the largest commercial passenger plane in the world», an occasion used by the citizens' movement “Beja Merece Mais” to praise the potential of “their” airport, which are well expressed in the study by Manuel Tão.
For the professor and researcher at UAlg, a specialist in matters related to the railway, it is possible to reach the main markets from Beja, «with land transport that places the Beja Airport within a time-distance of no more than ninety minutes from the markets to serve'.
For this, it would be necessary a «Alentejo Line, completely modernized, and with multiple sections capable of 220 km/h, from Casa Branca to Ourique (Funcheira)».
In this way, it would be possible to connect Beja Airport to Lisbon-Entrecampos in 1h25 and Albufeira in 1h20. An improvement in the train connection between Beja and Casa Branca would also make it possible to reach Évora in 35 minutes and Badajoz in 1h10. In other words, «the area of influence of Beja-Aerogare reaches Spanish Extremadura, only with the railroad», concludes Manuel Tão.
«The railway mode is the only one that, both in the North and in the South, integrates Beja Airport in a real airport network. Anticipates the resolution of the problem of Faro [future overcrowding] and even allows for flights to appear low cost extra-European, using large aircraft,” he added.
The UAlg researcher also speaks of the “geostrategic importance of Beja”, which led the German Luftwaffe Air Force to choose the city to install an air base there, within the framework of NATO. The Germans envisioned this airport as an integral part of a network, as it was about 150 kilometers away from Faro and like from Lisbon. Above the capital, to the northern coast of Spain, there are other air bases and airports at equivalent distances from each other.
Also decisive for the choice of the German Air Force was the existence of a railway line in Beja, with a route with many straights and “intersected here or there by a curve with a great radius, with “gravels” of enormous angle”.
Another way to make Beja Airport more central is with an investment in the highway. Here, the solution is, to a large extent, the completion of the A26, between Sines and Beja and continuing to Spain.
An alternative that, in the view of the citizens' movement “Beja Merece Mais”, has long been owed to the municipality of Alentejo.
Remembering that Beja «is currently the only District Capital that is not served, in road terms, by a road with physical characteristics of a Main Itinerary or a Motorway profile», the movement points out as urgent the creation of a road that serves alternative to the “dangerous route” that they consider the IP8 to have become.
The construction of the IP8, with a connection with a motorway profile between Sines and Beja, was announced by the Government in 2010, «with opening to traffic planned for 2012».
But, «for most of its extension, the existing road does not even have paved shoulders and, in part of its layout, the road also does not have the widths defined in the legislation for Main Itineraries».
“There are, along the route of the IP8, dozens of agricultural services without any special protection. It is essential to finish the A26, a two-lane expressway, with restricted access, and with a central divider, to make Baixo Alentejo economically and socially viable”, defends the movement.
For “Beja Merece Mais”, promoting improvements in both the railway and the highway is crucial, since “Beja Airport can play a very important role in serving the country, needing only access – planned, initiated, but currently stagnant'.
Even without the best accessibility, Beja Airport is having its «golden year» in 2018, largely due to congestion at Lisbon Airport. «The congestion of the Humberto Delgado Airport, in Lisbon, regarding the number of slots available is an undisguised problem and that, indirectly, began to divert aircraft to the Beja air terminal», illustrated the movement of citizens.
“Several tour operators say that the current conditions of Lisbon's airport infrastructure are the main constraint for the normal course of air operations for this summer. as a complementary airport to Lisbon and Faro, serving the entire Alentejo and Spanish Andalusia», he added.
Taking into account that, in Lisbon, «there are queues until the exit», the Alentejo airport is becoming more and more appealing to operators – as is the case of the Portuguese company Hifly, which operates the Airbus that will land this Monday in Beja - as it has strong arguments in this field.
More than low airport fees, a feature that has been part of the positioning of this airport since its inception, that of attracting flights low cost, it should be taken into account that, in Beja, "there are no parking costs", security screenings take "20 minutes", the check-in it is very fast and baggage collection takes much less time than in Lisbon.
There is even an intention on the part of the Government to invest more in promoting this airport. About two weeks ago, Infrastructure Minister Pedro Marques stated that “the Government and ANA Aeroportos de Portugal are going to develop a campaign with operators that offer integrated tourist packages to use Beja airport, especially in the summer periods, when the pressure on Lisbon is even greater».
For the member of the Government, «given the exhaustion that is verified at Lisbon airport, it makes perfect sense to try to promote that infrastructure, namely in the IATA summer (from the end of March to the end of October)».
This campaign will be very targeted at flight operators charterr, which have been the main clients of the airport infrastructure in Beja.
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