Beja International Airport can serve Lisbon, the Algarve and even Extremadura, according to a new report from the Algarve’s University - the only thing missing, is a decent road and rail network.
Manuel Tão, a Professor at the University, has produced a study of the potential of Beja Airport and, as an infrastructure specialist, concludes what everyone has been saying for years, without swift road and rail links, the airport is a dead duck.
Hi Fly’s enormous Airbus A380 has just landed at Beja Airport (HERE) - the arrival of “the largest commercial passenger plane in the world," has given 'Beja Merece Mais,' a pro-airport citizens' movement, the opportunity to apologise for the lack of joined-up planning that has ensured Beja Airport continues to languish amid the sun-drenched plains of the Alentejo.
For Tão, all that is needed is a modernised ‘Alentejo Line,’ with sections of track allowing high speed trains to reach 220 kmph. With this, "it would be possible to travel from Beja Airport to Lisbon-Entrecampos in 85 minutes and to Albufeira in 80 minutes."
An improvement in the rail link from Beja to Casas Brancas would allow passengers to reach Évora in 35 minutes and Badajoz in 70 minutes.
This is, "the area of influence of Beja Airport which swiftly can reach Spain’s Extremadura, but only by rail," concludes Manuel Tão.
A railway network "could turn Beja Airport into an airport that works and that will solve future overcrowding problems at Faro Airport and will encourage extra-European low-cost flights, using large aircraft," says Tão.
Another way to link Beja Airport with the 21st Century is to invest in the road system and finish the A26, between Sines and Beja and to build the link to Spain.
The 'Beja Merece Mais' (Beja Deserves More) movement says that Beja is not served by any road that could be called a motorway or a proper dual carriageway and that the IP8, in its current configuration, is dangerous.
The construction of the IP8, with a motorway grade section between Sines and Beja, was announced by the Government in 2010, "with an opening scheduled for 2012." This has not happened.
Beja Airport slowly is starting to be used as airlines give up in desperation at finding slots at Lisbon airport and land over 170 kilometres away at Beja Airport which claims to have free parking and swift baggage handling times.
The Infrastructure Minister, Pedro Marquês, already has stated that "the Government and ANA Aeroportos de Portugal will develop a campaign for 2019 with operators that offer integrated tour packages to use Beja airport, especially in the summer, when pressure on Lisbon is even greater."
Due to the entirely predictable overcrowding at Lisbon airport, “it makes perfect sense to promote Beja’s infrastructure, especially from the end of March to the end of October," Marquês informed parliament, unconvincingly. (HERE)
