Lisbon, July 1, 2025 (Lusa) - The Portuguese platform ‘Aeroporto fora, Lisboa melhora’ (No airport, a better Lisbon) has called for a gathering of citizens on Wednesday to protest against the "inaction of the authorities" regarding the noise and pollution caused by Lisbon airport.
In the protest scheduled for 7 p.m., which will take place outside the Humberto Delgado Airport metro station, citizens will demand an end to night flights, the closure of the airport, the urgent construction of a new Lisbon airport outside the capital and "a new green lung for the city".
Speaking to the Lusa news agency, Sérgio Morais, from the platform, said today that the initiative aims to show the discontent of people who live, work or study in areas affected by noise and pollution generated by aircraft.
"We are very concerned about this situation dragging on. The authorities continue to ignore us. It's summer. Flights have increased and we are increasingly disturbed. We don't see any way forward to resolve this. We hear nothing about the construction of the new airport," he said.
Sérgio Morais said that the noise caused by aircraft means that citizens living in the neighbourhoods of Areeiro, Alvalade, Campolide, Campo de Ourique, Camarate, Lumiar and São João da Talha "sleep poorly, have their classes interrupted, have medical appointments interrupted, smell fuel and suffer from hypertension also related to noise".
According to him, the problem has worsened "very much in recent years", despite last year's announcement by the Government that flights from Humberto Delgado Airport in Lisbon would be banned between 1am and 5am, following the conclusions of the working group on night flights.
"We have noticed that the number of flights has been increasing, not least because we are in the summer season. We therefore decided to organise this gathering to alert the public to the problems," he said.
Sérgio Morais added that the platform will put up a wall for messages.
"We will have an insomnia wall, a panel where messages can be left about what it is like to live affected by the airport. It is called insomnia, but it is not exclusively about night-time problems, of course," he said.
Sérgio Morais also said that the platform will request a meeting with the Government to discuss the problems affecting those areas.
In November 2024, the Minister of Infrastructure, Miguel Pinto Luz (who remains in office in the current legislature), announced that flights between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. would be banned in Lisbon, as recommended by a working group that analysed the issue and delivered its final report in July 2022.
In March this year, even before the legislative elections, the Cabinet instructed the National Civil Aviation Authority, the aviation sector regulator, to implement restrictions on night-time operations.
The PSD/CDS executive indicated that the restrictions concerned the operation of noisier aircraft between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., in addition to the imposition of a period without slots (“hard curfew”) between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., as well as the implementation of new aeronautical procedures to reduce noise.
DD/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
