This is "a problem that has dragged on for many, many years", said the president of Confederation of Tourism of Portugal (CTP), Francisco Calheiros, who was speaking at the presentation of the conclusions of the study "Economic impact of the non-decision on the implementation of the new Lisbon Airport".

Francisco Calheiros stressed that the importance of the new airport is not just for tourism, saying that it is "an extremely important national infrastructure" for the Portuguese economy and for other activities.

"It is a large national infrastructure that is urgent", he added, noting that the new airport has been discussed for a long time and that "it is time to put a stop to it".

The study looked at four possible scenarios.

According to the study, "taking into account the time required for the operation of a new airport, the unsatisfied demand for the Humberto Delgado Airport will imply very significant costs over the next few years, especially in the tourism sector, but also indirectly in the entire economy. Portuguese".

In the scenario where the economic impacts "are more plausible over time" – Portela+1, available in 2028 and with a faster recovery in demand – “it is estimated that the accumulated potential loss of generated wealth (VAB) until 2027 will reach 6.8 billion euros, associated on average with 27.7 thousand fewer jobs annually and an estimated loss of tax revenue of 1.9 billion euros".

That is, adding to the unrealized GVA the uncollected taxes, "the country could lose around 9,000 million euros by 2027", says the study.

Economic losses could reach 0.77% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 0.95% in employment, "in this scenario of delayed decision and rapid recovery".