Sérgio Silva Monteiro, the State Secretary for Infrastructures, Transport and Communications was in attendance at Friday’s ceremony.

Beja Mayor Manuel Oliveira told Lusa that the investment was important to developing the airport and the region.

After “a long period of some apathy and practical indifference to its utilisation” Oliveira said this “may represent the beginning of a new phase and a new perception of Beja airport.”

The €33 million redevelopment of a former military airbase opened in April 2011 but has seen no traffic on the overwhelming majority of days that have lapsed in the meanwhile with the forecast rise in regional tourism numbers never living up to expectations coupled with the cancellation of many projects in the wake of the financial crisis.