Porto Airport

Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport Aeroporto Sá Carneiro
IATA: OPO ICAO: LPPR
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Vinci Group
Operator	ANA Aeroportos de Portugal
Serves	Porto, Portugal
Location	11 km (6.8 mi) NW of Porto
Opened	1945
Hub for	TAP Air Portugal
Focus city for	easyJet Ryanair Transavia France
Elevation AMSL	69 m / 226 ft
Coordinates	41°14′08″N 008°40′41″W / 41.23556°N 8.67806°W / 41.23556; -8.67806Coordinates: 41°14′08″N 008°40′41″W / 41.23556°N 8.67806°W / 41.23556; -8.67806
Website	www.aeroportoporto.pt
Map
LPPR Location in Portugal
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 17/35 3,480 11,417 Asphalt
Statistics (2019)
Passengers 13.105.000 Passengers change 18-19 9.8% Aircraft Movements 96,537 Movements change 18-19 4.9%
Sources: ANAC, [1], [2], ANA Relatório Contas 2013

Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport (IATA: OPO, ICAO: LPPR) or simply Porto Airport (formerly Pedras Rubras Airport) is an international airport near Porto (Oporto), Portugal. It is located 11 km (6.8 mi) northwest of the Clérigos Tower in the centre of Porto, in the municipalities of Maia, Matosinhos and Vila do Conde and is run by ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal. The airport is currently the second-busiest in the country, based on aircraft operations; and the second-busiest in passengers, based on Aeroportos de Portugal traffic statistics, after Lisbon Airport and before Faro Airport. The airport is a base for easyJet, Ryanair, TAP Air Portugal and its subsidiary TAP Express.

Location[]

The airport is surrounded by the municipalities of Matosinhos (to the south and west) and Vila do Conde (to the north) and Maia (to the east). It covers the parishes of Santa Cruz do Bispo, Perafita and Lavra (in Matosinhos); Aveleda and Vilar do Pinheiro (Vila do Conde); and Vila Nova da Telha and Moreira (Maia).^[1] It includes an area of between 72 metres (236 ft) in the extreme south and 43 metres (141 ft) in the north.^[1] The southern portion of the airport intersects the hydrographic watershed of the Leça River, while the north is crossed by effluents of Onda River.^[1]

History[]

The airport around Porto opened in 1945 and was initially known as Pedras Rubras Airport, after the name for the locality where the airport is located: Pedras Rubras ("red rocks"). It is still known by this name in the region. The land on which the airport was built was originally agricultural, characterised by rich soils that permitted the cultivation of various cereals.^[1]

It was renamed in 1990 after former Portuguese prime minister, Francisco de Sá Carneiro, who died in a plane crash when he was traveling to this airport on 4 December 1980.^[2]

Along with the airports in Lisbon, Faro, Ponta Delgada, Santa Maria, Horta, Flores, Madeira, and Porto Santo, the airport's concessions to provide support to civil aviation were conceded to ANA Aeroportos de Portugal on 18 December 1998, under provisions of decree 404/98. With this concession, ANA became responsible for the planning, development and construction of future infrastructure.^[2]

A new terminal building, designed by Portuguese firm ICQ, was built between 2003 and 2006, and became operational in the last quarter of 2006.^[3]

Porto Airport reached ten million passenger per year for the first time on 6 December 2017.

Airlines and destinations[]

Passenger[]

The following airlines operate regular scheduled direct passenger flights at Porto Airport:

Airlines	Destinations
Aegean Airlines	Seasonal: Athens
Air Europa	Madrid
Air France	Paris–Charles de Gaulle
Air Transat	Toronto–Pearson Seasonal: Montréal–Trudeau (resumes 6 May 2022)
Azores Airlines	Ponta Delgada, Terceira
Blue Air	Seasonal: Bucharest (begins 16 April 2022)
British Airways	London–Heathrow
Brussels Airlines	Brussels
easyJet	Basel/Mulhouse, Berlin, Bordeaux, Bristol, Funchal, Geneva, London–Gatwick, London���Luton, Luxembourg, Lyon, Milan–Malpensa, Nantes, Nice, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Rennes, Toulouse, Zürich Seasonal: Ibiza, Manchester, Palma de Mallorca
Eurowings	Seasonal: Düsseldorf (resumes 3 March 2022), Hamburg (resumes 1 May 2022), Stuttgart (resumes 6 June 2022)
Finnair	Seasonal: Helsinki
Iberia	Madrid[4]
KLM	Amsterdam
Lufthansa	Frankfurt, Munich
Luxair	Luxembourg
Ryanair	Agadir, Alicante, Barcelona, Bari,[5] Beauvais, Bergamo, Berlin, Birmingham, Bologna, Bordeaux, Brest (ends 8 February 2022),[6] Brive, Brussels, Budapest, Cagliari, Châlons-Vatry, Charleroi, Clermont-Ferrand,[5] Cologne/Bonn, Copenhagen, Dole, Dortmund, Dublin, Edinburgh, Eindhoven, Faro, Fez, Funchal (begins 29 March 2022),[7] Hahn,[5] Hamburg, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Krakow, Lille, London–Stansted, Luxembourg, Madrid, Málaga, Malta, Manchester, Marrakech, Marseille, Memmingen, Milan–Malpensa, Nuremberg (begins 30 March 2022),[8] Ponta Delgada, Rome–Ciampino, Rome-Fiumicino, Seville, Tenerife–South, Terceira, Treviso, Toulouse, Tours, Valencia, Vienna, Warsaw–Modlin Seasonal: Billund (begins 27 March 2022),[9] Bremen, Carcassonne, Gran Canaria (resumes 1 April 2022),[5] La Rochelle, Liverpool, Palma de Mallorca, Verona (begins 28 March 2022),[5] Weeze
Swiss International Air Lines	Geneva, Zürich
TAP Air Portugal[10]	Funchal, Lisbon, London–Gatwick, Newark, Paris–Orly, Rio de Janeiro–Galeão, São Paulo–Guarulhos Seasonal: Geneva, Luxembourg, Ponta Delgada, Zürich
Transavia	Amsterdam, Lyon, Nantes, Paris–Orly, Ponta Delgada (begins 27 March 2022)[11]
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul
United Airlines	Seasonal: Newark (resumes 27 March 2022)[12]
Volotea	Seasonal: Bilbao (resumes 7 April 2022)
Vueling	Barcelona, Bilbao, Paris–Charles de Gaulle (resumes 27 March 2022), Paris–Orly Seasonal: Tenerife–North
Wizz Air	Seasonal: Budapest, Kyiv–Zhuliany (begins 7 July 2022),[13] London–Luton, Milan–Malpensa, Vienna, Warsaw–Chopin

Cargo[]

Airlines	Destinations
UPS Airlines[14]	Cologne/Bonn

Statistics[]

Busiest routes from Porto Airport (2019)^[15]

Rank	City, airport	Passengers	% change	Top carriers
1	Lisboa	1,010,696	10.9%	TAP Air Portugal
2	Madrid	969,724	28.1%	Air Europa, Iberia, Ryanair
3	Paris-Orly	956,886	4.8%	TAP Air Portugal, Transavia, Vueling
4	Geneva	693,892	0.7%	EasyJet, Swiss International Air Lines
5	Barcelona	692,305	16.9%	Ryanair, Vueling
6	Frankfurt	453,082	1.6%	Lufthansa, Ryanair
7	Funchal	436,849	13.9%	EasyJet, TAP Air Portugal
8	London-Gatwick	387,354	5.9%	EasyJet, TAP Air Portugal
9	London-Stansted	348,735	8.3%	Ryanair
10	Brussels	348,262	25.2%	Brussels Airlines, Ryanair

Access[]

Besides taxi services and the road link, there are several public transportation links available:

Metro[]

The airport is served by Line E of the Porto Metro. The station has three platforms and the trains leave the arrival platform and reverse into one of the departure platforms.

The service links the airport to Porto city center and by transfer in Trindade station to high-speed trains at Campanhã, and other urban centres of Greater Porto: in Verdes station to Vila do Conde and Póvoa de Varzim (using line B), Fonte do Cuco station to Maia (line C), Senhora da Hora station to Matosinhos (line A), and Trindade station to V.N.Gaia (line D) and to Rio Tinto/Fânzeres (line F).

Car[]

Sá Carneiro airport is accessible via the A41 and A28 motorways, but also the EN13 highway (using the EN107 accessway). These roadways lead to drop-off and pick-up areas and short and long-stay car parks. It can also be reached by the A4 motorway through the VRI accessway.

Bus[]

STCP buses also link the airport and the city. There is also a bus that operates all night from Porto city centre to the airport. Also there is a bus service to/from Vigo (Galicia/Spain) twice a day on weekdays, and once a day during the weekend.

Shuttle[]

The GetBUS shuttle provides 50 min direct connections to the towns of Braga and Guimarães. Tickets can be bought in advance on the shuttle's website.

Further proposals[]

The proposed Porto–Vigo high-speed rail line would be built via the airport.^[16]

Accolades[]

Airports Council International Airport Service Quality Awards voted the airport Best Airport in Europe in 2007. Additionally, it has placed in the top three of Best Airport in Europe a further nine times – winning second place in 2010, and third place in 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.^[17][18]

Accidents and incidents[]

• On April 27, 2021 a FedEx cargo jet was cleared for takeoff while a ground vehicle was on the runway, coming within four seconds of collision before taking off over it. The Office for the Prevention and Investigation of Accidents in Civil Aviation and Rail rated the incursion a "serious incident" and initiated a safety investigation.^[19] A Popular LiveATC Youtube Channel 'VASAviation'^[20] has a recorded instance of the communications between Porto's Tower and the aircraft involved, FedEx Contractor Flight 'Quality 4959' ^[21]

See also[]

• Transport in Portugal
• List of airports in Portugal

References[]

Citations[]

Bibliography[]

• ANA, ed. (January 2007), Plano Director: Aeroporto Francisco Sá Carneiro [Porto] (PDF) (in Portuguese), Porto, Portugal: ANA Aeroportos de Portugal, archived from the original (PDF) on 2 January 2014

External links[]

Media related to Porto International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Accident history for OPO at Aviation Safety Network