Ota Airport

Ota Airport
Ota Airport
	Aerial view of the airport in April 2019
	IATA: none; ICAO: none;
Summary
Location	Ota, 50 km (27 nmi; 31 mi) north of Lisbon
Opened	Not built
Coordinates	39°5′41.2″N 8°57′55.88″W / 39.094778°N 8.9655222°W
	Project on hold

Ota Airport was the planned site for the new Lisbon airport located in Ota, 50 km (27 nmi; 31 mi) north of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, from the late 1990s until January 2008 when the project was aborted.^[1]

Description

The area where the future airport was to be built is occupied by the former Ota Air Base, of the Portuguese Air Force. The permanent air operations of this facility were discontinued, but it is still used as the Military and Technical Training Center of the Air Force (CFMTFA).

There was already a small airstrip at Ota but that was to be removed prior to construction. Completion of the airport was projected around 2017. The airport would have had two runways on the borders of the airport property and would have been able to accommodate the

Lisbon Portela Airport. After over eight years of debate other options such as Alcochete at 38°46′30″N 8°52′55″W / 38.774903°N 8.88193°W, were still being discussed as a viable alternative. The deadline for a final decision was set by the Government as December 2007. Another commonly cited alternative is Alverca do Ribatejo at 38°53′09″N 9°01′43″W / 38.885834°N 9.028611°W and the Montijo Air Force Base at 38°42′55″N 9°01′58″W / 38.715251°N 9.032822°W.^{[citation needed}

]

Decision

The decision process has been qualified as a typical analysis paralysis.^[who?] According to final governmental decision, the OTA location was turned down in favour of

Centre of mass of the Lisbon metropolitan area

, with future expansions guaranteed. Planes can land and take off from different directions. Also, the site is already state property.

Transportation

The proposed Portuguese TGV high speed train would have a stop at Ota with connections to the rest of the country.

As the decision is instead in Alcochete, the

Tagus River

would also serve the airport.

Controversy and Public Opinion

The decision process has been controversial, with defenders of the various offers arguing with all sorts of facts and visions. Local lobbying is also strong. According to polls as at November 2007, public preference is clear for Alcochete (63%) vs Ota (15%).^[2] But still lacks an

environmental impact study

to confirm that Alcochete is indeed the best place to build a large infrastructure like an airport, and that same environmental impact study could overturn that decision over to Ota again.

References

^ Jornal de Negócios Online :: Empresas Archived 2008-01-29 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Jornal de Notьcias". Jn.sapo.pt. Retrieved 2012-05-06.

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[1] Jornal de Negócios Online :: Empresas Archived 2008-01-29 at the Wayback Machine

[2] "Jornal de Notьcias". Jn.sapo.pt. Retrieved 2012-05-06.

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