It has been on hold since November 2013 but there is still hope for Loulé’s municipal aerodrome project – designed originally to give private jets an alternative to busy Faro airport.
Said Loulé mayor Vítor Aleixo last week: “We have not closed the book on the project, but at the moment it is hard to raise the financial means to bring it to life.”
What’s needed, he told Lusa news agency, is a forward-thinking private investor.
The project, drawn up in the golden days of 1999, was to have a little aerodrome geared to servicing the high end of the luxury tourist market.
But then came the crisis, and the added blow of rejection by the National Civil Aviation Institute (INAC) due to complaints from neighbouring Albufeira that aircraft would invade its airspace by flying over the parish of Paderne.
An alternative location is not an option, nonetheless, as the plan is already included in the borough’s PDM (municipal plan), said Aleixo.
Thus, until the spectre of “a private entity” comes onto the scene, the mayor accepts the stalemate is set to continue.
