Palal

It was a long 22-hour sailboat trip down from Lisbon to Portimão. A friend asked for some help in crewing a boat on a repositioning trip down to the Algarve. To come back up, I decided to fly on a scheduled 22-minute trip from Portimão to Cascais, just west of Lisbon.

The Boat Ride

We set off around 9PM, already delayed. After leaving the river in Lisbon I worked up a dinner for the 4 of us and volunteered to take the nightwatch. As there was little wind, and because we were time-constrained we kept the motor running

My night watch together with a moon-filled night, the most amazing sunrise and dolphins swimming alongside our boat were juxtaposed against a total lack of wind, insufficient fuel due to someone’s poor planning (resulting in a refueling stop and even more delays), and me waking up in the middle of the day to find the skipper (whom I barely knew) making out with a girl at the bow while the autopilot was driving us down the coast.







As we rounded the cape of Sagres, our calm seas turned into 30-knot southerly winds. Instead of staying topside, the other three crewmembers decided to spend the last few hours down below. Of course two of the three felt seasick afterwards (the skipper was fine), while I battled us through the storm and into Portimão harbor.





Sleeping through the second night was also a challenge – skipper “Don Juan” Romeo and mermaid Juliet were at it again. This time, the engine was not running to drown out the noise. I promised to help bring the boat down and didn’t want to stay much longer, so I left the others and made my way back to Lisbon.



The Plane Ride

The fastest way back was by plane. Portimão has a small air strip that is used by a flight school and skydivers.



The Portuguese government subsidizes a Public Service Obligations flight operated by SevenAir from Portimão in the south to Bragança in the north, making stops in Cascais, Viseu, and Vila Real, running up to twice daily. The flights are operated with 19-seater Dornier Do-228.



PSO service contracts are an EU thing and they are usually put into place for island ferries, regional rail and urban transport services. Some PSO flights are not subsidized like the French flights to their overseas territories, because of the high traffic, while others require thousands of euros of compensation per passenger. A full list can be found on the EU Commission website. I’ve taken other PSO flights as well. Check out my trip report on my flight between Split and Dubrovnik in Croatia.

This is not unique to the EU. The US has the Essential Air Service. Both of these have transparent processes for receiving subsidies. Other countries also subsidize, directly or indirectly, some air services in an open or not so open way.

I made my way to the airport, and checked in.


My larger bag was tagged to Cascais (CAT) and my carry-on got its own SevenAir sticker.




I had time for a quick breakfast just outside the terminal.


I wanted to get a shot of the plane landing, and was told to be very careful, as they could leave without me if I’m not back quickly. I managed to get a few shots of some small planes taking off.



Security involves getting waved down with a hand metal detector, and hand-ruffling through your bags. The plane makes only a very quick stop at the airport. Boarding was quick and the plane was pretty full.


If you want an aisle AND a window seat at the same time - this is the plane to take. No middle seats here, except the last row, which is 3 across. The second-to-last row has 2 seats side-by side (no window seat in seat A) and is opposite of the entry door.

Image Source
Row 7 is probably your best bet for an unobstructed view and comfort of a single seat on both sides of the plane. Second-best would probably be row 1, but you'll have the propeller right behind you at row 2.


There was a bottle of water and some earplugs on the seat.



We took off for Cascais.



We flew along the Vicentine coast I had traversed by boat the day before. It was beautiful.



Sines - where we stopped to refuel the boat - a medium-sized port in Portugal.



Cabo Espichel – a must do/see if you’re in Lisbon. Sesimbra in the background on the right, and Meco the beach on the left. A great place to go hiking/biking.

Seeing the 25th of April Bridge

Landing over the coastal road near Oeiras



Cascais in the background with the marine layer over the ocean



Coming in to land



Landed in Cascais after a 22-minute flight.



Everyone (including those continuing on) had to disembark as the plane was refueled here.



Those continuing on, waiting to re-board.



The security setup here is a bit more normal.



The 7Air free shuttle took me to Marques de Pombal in Lisbon, from where it was a 20-min walk home.



Overall Experience

The PSO flight has a very small baggage allowance, so if you need to travel with a standard carry-on it’s definitely a good option to get between Portimão and Lisbon/Cascais. If you have any "serious" luggage, you may want to take the train as it will be cheaper and should not be too much longer.

This flight is a great experience to add to your aviation geek resume and I'd love to do the northern part of it at some point to see the scenery!

Bear96

Lovely and very interesting! Thanks for taking the time to post. Love Portugal!

Romanianflyer

This is an amazing little trip report as well, I didn't know about this airline!

I just checked their website and rates are indeed very affordable (eg. Viseu - Braganca for 35 EUR). But do you perhaps know why Vila Real isn't listed as an option in the booking tool? If I search Viseu - Braganca it does list a stop in Vila Real on the way, but I can't seem to find any itineraries with departure/arrival there. Should be quite an amazing flight as well, it basically being a short hop over the Douro Valley!

1P

Another good TR, Palal!

Palal

See the note on the timetable page: "Important Note: Vila Real Airfield Closed!"

VRL needs a new runway (sounds like it's a full rebuild, not just repaving) - it's been closed since of July 2019 - and they need 370k€ for it. As always, Portuguese bureaucracy is slowing things down. Latest news article from May of this year is here (PT only).

I bet the PSO contract still requires them to list the stop in their timetables even though they bypass it

I've been meaning to fly the north-south portion of the trip, but never got around to it.

roadwarrier

Having been to Portugal several times, I did not know about this service, never mind that Cascais has an airstrip.

Thanks for the TR and more importantly, the information.

Palal

CAT has a full-fledged terminal and is usually used for private aviation.
BTW. NetJets Europe HQ is also not too far away.

BarelyBAGold

Indeed, thanks for the trip report and the information - really helpful in considering trips from Lisbon to the Algarve. Holidaying in Cascais and flying direct to Portimao certainly is head and shoulders above the drive to LIS then a flight to FAO before a drive to Portimao............

MHG

I know the thread is 2 yrs old ...
It took authorities a while to decide on whether or not to invest in the runway repair (and fixing the problem of water washing out the soil beneath parts of the runway).
If you check the schedules now you´ll see Vila Real being served again.

Bear96

I thought this might be of interest to others who enjoyed this thread. Sevenair may be no more after February 2024, so if you want to check it out, better hurry:

Air Connection between Bragança and the Algarve “At Risk” (in PT but easy enough to translate these days)

MHG

Thanks for the update.
Seems Sevenair is not willing to further shoulder the losses without compensation.
If the government wants this route to continue they´ll either have to reflect this in the compensation or find another carrier.
I don´t see any carrier in Portugal capable to do that (aside from TAP who I´m pretty sure won´t step in).
Very sad - especially as I had planned to fly on that route but won´t be able to do so before the contract ends.
Unlikely the government will find another carrier in the short time left until february 28.
Still hope the route will be continued/revived eventually if/when Sevenair pulls out.