Madeira Airport, an Airport on Pillars BY MERI

Madeira Airport, an Airport on Pillars

Madeira Airport, also known as Funchal Airport and Santa Catarina Airport, is an international airport located near Funchal, Madeira. The airport controls national and international air traffic of the island of Madeira.

The airport's runway with a length of 2781 meters, which 1000 meters of the runway is supported by 180 pillars, each pillar about 70 meters tall.

The airport was once infamous for its short runway which, surrounded by high mountains and the ocean, made it a tricky landing for even the most experienced of pilots. The original runway was only 1600 meters in length, but was extended by 200 meters 8 years after the TAP Air Portugal Flight 425 incident of 1977 and subsequently rebuilt in 2000, almost doubling the size of the runway, building it out over the ocean. Instead of using landfill, the extension was built on a series of 180 columns. Look at the cars parked below the runway.

For the enlargement of the new runway the Funchal Airport has won the Outstanding Structures Award, given by International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE). The Outstanding Structures Award is considered to be the "Oscar" for engineering structures in Portugal.