Lisbon Airport Flight Arrivals (LIS)

Flight Arrivals at Lisbon Airport

Lisbon Airport is a major air gateway for the country of Portugal, and is an international arrival point for millions of tourists and business professionals. It is Portugal’s largest airport, with over fourteen million passengers per annum, and is located very nearby the city centre of Lisboa, the capital city of the country. Lisbon Airport can also be referred to as the Portela Airport, due to its location nearby Portela, and has the official airport code of LIS. Passengers on Lisbon Airport arrival flights come from many different countries across the world, and will find the terminal building’s arrival hall to be well equipped for their needs. Several transport options are also available from just outside the terminals.

Lisbon Airport is a hub for the airline carriers of SATA International, TAP Portugal, White Airways, Easyjet and Portugália, and flights operated by these airline companies arrive from a number of destinations. TAP Portugal handles flights from Amsterdam, Athens, Copenhagen, Rome-Fiumicino, Milan-Malpensa, Madrid, Frankfurt, Budapest, Bologna, Venice-Marco Polo and many others, including those further away, such as Johannesburg in South Africa and Miami in the United States of America. White Airways handles flights from mainly Spanish and Portuguese destinations, such as Palma de Mallorca, Gran Canaria, Tenerife-South, Funchal and Porto, while Easyjet provides a valuable connection between Lisbon Airport and UK destinations, such as Edinburgh and Liverpool during the high season, and London-Luton and London-Gatwick throughout the year.

Other important airline carriers at Lisbon Airport include Air France, flying from Paris Charles de Gaulle, Air Transat, from Toronto-Pearson, British Airways with flights from London-Heathrow, KLM from Amsterdam and Lufthansa, offering flights from Frankfurt and Munich. There are many more airline companies which serve Lisbon Airport, from many other countries and cities as well, therefore, travellers can arrive at Lisbon from a large variety of destinations, and from all around the world.

The facilities at Lisbon Airport are divided into two terminal buildings, referred to as Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. Terminal 2 was completed and opened for business in 2007, and is the area used for the departure and arrival of scheduled domestic flights, while Terminal 1 is the main building of Lisbon Airport, and is where all international flights will leave their passengers. Although Lisbon Airport has had some extensive renovations and expansions over the last few years, the airport may still not be able to handle the increase in passenger numbers towards 2030, as it is surrounded by urban development, and has no further room for expansion. For this reason, it has been decided that a new Lisbon Airport will be constructed, in the Alcochete area, which is to the east of the current airport facility. The new airport is expected to be built by the year 2017.

The Lisbon Airport arrival areas are equipped with advanced baggage reclaim facilities, and a number of other useful services. Once passengers have collected their baggage, the public arrivals area is entered, and in this area, there are general information desks and tourist information services available, a baggage storage area, currency exchange services, ATM's and areas for parents of young children, such as nappy changing stations.

The Lisbon Airport car hire companies can also be found in the arrival areas, and include the internationally recognised car rental brands of Avis, Hertz, Sixt, National, Europcar, Alamo, Budget and Auto Europa. Although a rented car is not always recommended for driving in the city center of Lisboa, it is ideal for travelling to areas on the outskirts of the city and to the beach resort areas of Cascais and Estoril found to the south-west of the airport, and Almada, to the south of the airport, just on the other side of the Ponte 25 de Abril Bridge.

Lisbon Airport is well connected by a number of prominent roads and highways, and arriving passengers will easily be able to drive from the airport to any location, near or far, in Portugal or in Spain. The E1/A1 is the airport’s main access road, and leads to areas in the north, which include Vila Franca de Xira, while the A8 provides access to many northern areas as well, but runs nearer to the western coast of Portugal than the A1. The A8 leads to Torres Vedras and Caldas da Rainha. Passengers who want to travel west can use the A5, and to the south, the A2. East of the airport is the A12, which includes the longest bridge in Europe, known as the Ponte Vasco da Gama Bridge, and leads to Alcochete and Montijo. Within the city of Lisboa itself, tourists can find transport by trams, trains, buses and the unique funiculars. There is also a popular ‘elevator’, which takes its passengers up a very steep hill in the city.

Passengers arriving at Lisbon Airport can reach the city by bus or taxi, but there is no train station at the airport. However, the Aerobus provides a connection to the stations of Oriente, Entrecampos and Cais do Sodré. A number of bus routes operated by the Carris Bus Company stop at the airport as well. Further details for Lisbon Airport arrival flights can be found online, from the official website of the airport’s operating company, ANA, or from many other online sources.