Minister rebuffs Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary’s Lisbon airport claims

Straight-talking Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has received a back-handed rebuttal from Portugal’s Minister of Infrastructures Miguel Pinto Luz after he said that Portugal’s government were ”idiots”.

And the minister rejected the Ryanair CEO’s claims that the government was limiting the growth of Humberto Delgado airport in order to protect TAP.

“We don’t appreciate intimidation or untruths, we prefer facts” said Miguel Pinto Luz in a publication on LinkedIn, adding that Lisbon’s airport was not “artificially limited”.

“Humberto Delgado Airport exceeded 36 million passengers in 2025, above the ‘limit’ that Ryanair itself points out. There is no political blockade, there is an urban infrastructure operating at its maximum,” says the publication, adding that “there is concrete action — an expansion plan has been approved that will allow it to reach 40 to 45 million passengers.”

The plan is being developed by ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal, which will submit the first environmental assessment report to the Portuguese Environment Agency to increase the number of movements at Portela (Lisbon airport).

The Government “is protecting TAP while it is being sold and in the meantime the Portuguese, the citizens of Lisbon, are paying higher fares,” said the CEO of the Irish airline during a press conference on Wednesday in Lisbon. ​”Capacity at Portela can be increased with a pen,” he ​added.

The boss of the Irish airline once again insisted on Montijo, stating that it would be possible to build an infrastructure similar to Terminal 2 at Portela on the air base, which would be operational in 2028.

Miguel Pinto Luz’s ministry was peremptory in its response: “the future has been decided and it does not involve Montijo”. “Montijo is a military air base and has not advanced for environmental and land-use planning reasons.”

SOURCE: LinkedIn, ECO

Image: Lusa