The Minister of Infrastructure said this Tuesday that he was surprised by the public position of the Web Summit organization, regarding the alleged lack of capacity at Lisbon airport to receive private flights during the event, and accused “one of the founders” of “excessive language”.
“Out of 102 flights that were requested, only seven were denied and they were denied for various reasons and, therefore, clearly, it was – I would say – on the part of one of the founders of the Web Summit an excess of language that he transmitted”, stated the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Miguel Pinto Luz, speaking to Lusa, on the sidelines of a visit to the facilities of Siderurgia Nacional, in Seixal (Setúbal).
The Expresso newspaper reported last Saturday, citing the Financial Times, that several private jets bound for Lisbon were being diverted to Badajoz, in Spain, “due to the lack of capacity at the Portuguese capital’s airport during the Web Summit”.
The information was confirmed by the event organizers themselves, who admitted having received complaints from delegates forced to land far from Lisbon.
The Ministry of Infrastructure released a statement this morning ensuring that Lisbon’s airport infrastructure responded adequately to the search for slots for private flights during the Web Summit.
“We find this public position strange [da organização da Web Summit]the Government today, defending the country’s image, the country’s image as an investment attraction, made clear in this statement what our capacity is to receive private jets”, highlighted Miguel Pinto Luz.
In a statement, the Government detailed that the National Slot Coordination – an independent entity from NAV Portugal responsible for allocating time slots for landing or take-off at coordinated national airports – “received, between the 9th and 13th of November, more than 100 requests for ‘slot’ for operations at Humberto Delgado Airport (AHD), having approved 95 of the requests and only refused seven that could not, until now, be accommodated in that infrastructure”.
As he highlighted, compared to the same period of the Web Summit 2024, there was an increase of around 70% in the number of slots allocated to private flights.
At the Cascais Municipal Aerodrome, the ministry said that 51 flights are currently planned for the aforementioned period, while 29 and 19 private flights are currently planned for Faro and Porto, respectively.
In Beja, no requests for operations have been registered so far, he added.
In the specific case of AHD, the executive explained that the allocation of ‘slots’ “is carried out based on defined technical criteria”, which, in the case of private flights, include a maximum time on the ground of 45 minutes (‘turnaround’) and the obligation to submit the request from 10 days in advance of the desired date.
“At certain times of the day, the capacity of the AHD is, however, completely exhausted, due to the existence of 38 movements per hour (declared capacity) already previously authorized”, he emphasized.
The executive guaranteed that national airport infrastructures “maintain full availability to accommodate private operations”, namely at the Cascais Municipal Aerodrome (seen as the “reference aerodrome for executive aviation in the Lisbon region”), as well as at the airports of Beja, Faro and Porto.
Even so, he assured that he was “closely monitoring this matter”, remaining “available to, if necessary, adopt exceptional measures”, namely the “temporary lifting of operational restrictions applicable to aerodromes”, such as opening during the night.
The Web Summit kicked off on Monday, in Lisbon, and has more than 900 speakers and more than 70,000 participants, according to data from the organization, in an event where artificial intelligence (AI) continues to be highlighted.