Lisbon, March 25, 2025 (Lusa) - The Cascais town council suspended the concession of the Tires aerodrome on Tuesday due to possible interested parties' discomfort with news reports associating the tender with criminal groups.
The tender, which attracted the interest of three groups, was to be launched this year and would involve an immediate investment of around €165 million.
The suspension was justified by the fact that possible interested parties were bothered by the news that had been published linking the hasty decision that the signatory would have, as mayor, to hand over the concession of the airport infrastructure to groups that allegedly have criminal activities.
The decision was approved with all parties voting in favour and Chega abstaining.
During this morning's meeting, Carlos Carreiras refuted the accusations and explained that, although they have no basis in fact, "by linking the tender to criminal groups, nobody feels comfortable being associated with them".
The mayor also confirmed that three groups have shown an interest in the process, and "many others have come to enquire". "Not least because you don't launch a tender like this without knowing if there are any interested parties," he commented.
Recalling the study Ernst & Young carried out for the municipality on the investment figures, he emphasised that what was at stake was a project with "huge numbers".
"This is of a proportionally inverse dimension between the public interest and the attitude of certain political and party agents in this matter, we are talking about a proposal with great transformation from an economic, social and environmental point of view," he pointed out.
Carlos Carreira now prefers to leave the decision on whether or not to go ahead with the Tires concession to the next mayor, who will be elected in the local elections scheduled for this year.
"The next government will have all the freedom, and even ease, [to decide] because they already have a lot of work done, they already have a wealth of studies," he said.
However, the same proposal ensures that "all the necessary procedures will continue to be conducted for the installation in the municipality of higher education in the areas of aerospace and aeronautical engineering, as well as the research and development of alternative fuels, composite materials and artificial intelligence processes related to the sector. Cascais Câmara is working with Universidade Nova to create a "university airport", as the project has been dubbed.
Reacting to the news, the IFA-International Flight Academy executive director, José Madeira, applauded the suspension.
"Common sense prevailed. This decision is an opportunity for the council that emerges from the next local elections in Cascais to reconfigure a concession model that ensures the continued presence of training schools at the Cascais aerodrome, thus safeguarding the contributions that have been made to the municipality for decades, in financial terms, job creation and the training of qualified professionals, for a sector as needy of staff as civil aviation in Portugal," commented the head of the main pilot training school in Tires.
The launch of the international tender for the Tires concession was announced at the end of last year, following the new life that the local authority wanted to give to the infrastructure that will receive Lisbon airport's private jet flights to the main airport, which is operating at almost maximum capacity.
The measure was presented in the State Budget for 2024 by António Costa's previous government, and a working group was subsequently set up to evaluate the proposal to divert these flights, which represent close to 1% of Lisbon airport's total movements.
SCR/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
