1972

This was the year when consideration was given, for the first time, to the idea of providing Madeira with an intercontinental airport. The project was designed by Edgar Cardoso. On 12 December, the regional tourism delegation, led at the time by Ribeiro de Andrade, met with the Madeiran hotel owners, who expressed their concern about the harmful effects that the small size of the airport would have on tourism. Aeronautical technology was displaying ever more significant advances, while planes were growing larger and were therefore unable to land on the small 1600-metre runway. Tourism felt the effects of this and Madeira came off badly.

The decision was then taken to study the possibility of enlarging the airport or building a new one.