According to figures by Vinci Airports, which owns ANA - Aeroportos de Portugal, passenger traffic in Portuguese airports rose 5.8 percent in the past 12 months to 55.9 million passengers.


“In Portugal, traffic growth was particularly sharp in Faro (+12.3 percent) and Porto (+9.5 percent), reflecting the country’s continuous popularity amongst foreign tourists”, Vinci Airport said in a statement.


“At the Lisbon hub, traffic grew by 4.2 percent, despite the high base for comparison and the current capacity constraints”, the statement added.


Vinci Airports also mentioned it had signed an agreement with the Portuguese government on 8 January 2019 to finance the expansion of Lisbon’s airport capacity in order to be able to accommodate traffic evolution until the concession expires in 2063.


The agreement involves the extension of the existing Lisbon airport and the opening of a new civil airport in Montijo, 25km from the city centre.


The company also pointed out that there had been solid traffic growth (+6.4 percent) at the airports managed by Vinci Airports in the first quarter of 2019.