تقرير يكشف عن عيوب خطيرة في مراقبة الحركة الجوية في المطارات الوطنية

According to Expresso, the new report calls into question the NAV service, the equipment provided by ANA, which manages the national airports, as well as the supervision of the National Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC). According to the report, in at least two situations that occurred at Porto and Ponta Delgada airports, "an accident was only avoided by exceptional circumstances". In both cases, a maintenance car was authorised to enter the runway when a plane was taking off or landing.

In Porto, a cargo Boeing 737 was 300 meters horizontally and 150 meters vertically from the airport vehicle when taking off in April 2021. In May 2021, a similar episode happened in Ponta Delgada, when an Airbus 321 from TAP was authorised to land and the plane and car were separated by only 280 meters. In both cases, there was only one controller in the tower but, according to the rules, in Porto, there should be four more elements, and in Ponta Delgada two more.

The report also criticises the NAV manuals, dated 2006 and with references to obsolete regulations and organizations; they are also all different, depending on whether it is Lisbon, Porto, or Faro airports. Regarding runway inspections, the document reads that safety recommendations, such as the use of 'stop bars' as an additional means of protecting the runway or carrying out the inspection in the opposite direction of the runway in use, are not respected.

A GPIAAF source assured Expresso that the report is not definitive and the final one will be published before the end of the year.