Cascais, Portugal, July 4, 2025 (Lusa) - The municipality of Cascais will have a new campus of Universidade Nova, dedicated to aeronautical and aerospace engineering, located next to the Tires aerodrome. The local authority sees this as a contribution to developing the area, the authorities announced on Friday.
Organisers unveiled the project this morning during a ceremony held at Cascais Municipal Aerodrome (Tires), located in the parish of São Domingos de Rana, and representatives from Cascais Municipal Council and Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL) signed a protocol there.
The agreement provides for the free transfer, for a period of 50 years, of the surface rights to 20 hectares located in the vicinity of the aerodrome to UNL, where the new Faculty of Science and Technology hub will be developed.
This space, the fourth for UNL in the municipality of Cascais, will offer professional courses in the field of aeronautics and will host a series of industrial partnerships in the aerospace industry.
Speaking to the Lusa news agency, the Mayor of Cascais, Carlos Carreiras (PSD), said that the creation of the hub will “have a very strong impact on the development” of the municipality, bringing together the university, research and industry.
"The aim is to use this hub to create a line of development in a region of the municipality that still has high growth potential," said the mayor, speaking in terms of an ‘aeropolis’.
Carlos Carreiras said that the new space would require access roads, both from the motorway and for distribution within the territory, as well as public housing and service infrastructure, such as schools and health centres.
“We believe that this is a mark that will put Cascais on a par with what is already a global offering, as this concept of the aeropolis already exists on several continents,” he stressed.
Asked about deadlines, the mayor predicted that it would take between two and three years to start the investments, with an initial investment of €50 million.
Also as part of the construction of this hub, Cascais Municipal Council has established protocols with other entities, namely for a professional course in automotive mechatronics, with the Association for Training for Industry and the Matilde Rosa Araújo School Group, and for a professional course in aircraft and flight equipment maintenance, with TAP Maintenance and Engineering, the Frei Gonçalo de Azevedo School Group and the Frei Gonçalo de Azevedo School Group.
The Frei Gonçalo de Azevedo School Group and its partners also established a “partnership protocol on drones and composite materials.” They signed a memorandum of understanding with a helicopter company, issued a provisional acceptance certificate for the new control tower and provided a hangar for TAP maintenance.
FAC/ADB // ADB.
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