Porto Santo Airport

The island of Porto Santo was the first of the Madeira Islands to obtain an airport. In 1959,[2] its runway was built with an initial length of 2,000 m (6,600 ft). The first aircraft to land at this airport was a TAP Air Portugal Douglas DC-4, on 20 July 1960.

The airport's infrastructure has improved over time, with increases to the runway length and in ramp surface. The last improvements to the airport structure were finalized on 28 August 1995, with the inauguration of a new passenger terminal and a new increase in runway length, which then reached 3,000 m (9,800 ft). The runway was also re-paved.

The airport has a 3,000 m × 45 m (9,843 ft × 148 ft) asphalt/concrete runway, with no ILS equipment as of 2011, but with VOR and NDB approaches available.

The Porto Santo military airfield (officially the Maneuver Aerodrome no 3 or AM3) is a Portuguese Air Force base which shares its aeronautical facilities with the Porto Santo Airport. The AM3 was created in 2009 by the transformation of the previous Madeira Air Detachment. It does not have permanently based squadrons, but supports permanent detachments of the Squadron 502 (EADS CASA C-295 aircraft) and Squadron 751 (AgustaWestland EH101 helicopters).

• On 27 December 2005, the pilot of Monarch Airlines Flight 558, from Manchester to Tenerife, diverted to Porto Santo to put off a 53-year-old male passenger who had grown verbally abusive after being refused further drinks by crew due to his intoxication. The man's luggage was offloaded and stacked on the tarmac right next to him; it was several days before he could find transport off the island. Media reports characterised him as having been abandoned on a desert island as punishment for his misbehaviour.[4]

• List of airports in Portugal

• Official website