Beja Airport certified
28/11/2009
As Beja Airport nears completion, formal licensing procedures on the infra-structure are being carried out, though no official inauguration date has, as yet, been confirmed.
Even though it has suffered delays, Beja Airport is now "nearly completed", José Queiroz, head of the Beja Airport Development Company (EDAB) has told the Lusa News Agency. He explained, "The work is almost complete, there are just a few finishing touches left to do". Though he refrained from giving a specific date for the airport's opening, he added "Soon inspections will begin and, if everything is in order, a provisional working permit will be issued". José Queiroz had earlier this year predicted that all building works on the airport would be finished by the "end of October". In mid-October this year, in an exclusive interview with The Portugal News, José Queiroz confirmed initial hopes that Beja airport would open this year had been dashed after a series of "planned delays" and its predicted opening date was now 2010. He reiterated the airport would open "sometime next year", saying "I don't know exactly when, as it hasn't been discussed, but it will preferably be during the first three months of next year". "I don't think it is necessary to look beyond that deadline". At a cost of €33 million, the future International Beja Airport was adapted from the conversion of a former German military base, Air Base 11 (BA11). Works pertaining to a second phase of development, the phase that is currently in completion, began in September 2008, ten months later than expected due to an irregularity in the public tender. Phase two, which includes the construction of passenger, cargo and service terminals, was expected to take six and a half months from start to finish. It has, however, been over a year since it kicked off. According to Rui Oliveira, Press Officer for national airport management company ANA, which has been assigned management of Beja Airport, "the necessary actions" have been "programmed" between ANA and the Portuguese Air Force (FAP) to "establish technical agreements" that will regulate operational activity and define the airport fees through use of BA11's runway. This to "ensure both civil and military use of the airport is viable". This will also aid the transferring of the activity developed by EDAB to ANA. Rui Oliveira further said this week that various contracts were being discussed with agents connected to the air travel and the tourism sectors. On opening, the airport will have a capacity of processing up to 1.5 million passengers per year and offers the flexibility to cater for double that amount with subsequent growth. It will receive a maximum of 10-12 flights per day, "to start with", and has a cargo storage capacity of 30-40 tons, which can be tripled with demand. Due to the size of its runway, Beja is expected, in the future, to see large aircraft such as the wide-body Airbus A340 or the high-body Boeing 747 touch down on its tarmac.
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