The Airport
Madeira Runway Awards: IABSE 2004 & Guinness World Record
The viaduct-runway has collected structural engineering's top honour and a world record.
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Madeira Airport’s runway extension has won two major distinctions: the IABSE Outstanding Structure Award in 2004, structural engineering’s most prestigious honour, and a Guinness World Record (entry dated 12 December 2011) as the airport with the longest bridge-supported runway extension, at 1,020 m. The first recognises the structural achievement; the second recognises the record-setting length of runway carried on the elevated platform.
What is the IABSE Outstanding Structure Award?
It is the headline honour of the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE) — informally called the “Oscars of structural engineering” — given to the world’s most remarkable structures. Madeira’s runway extension received it in 2004.
IABSE cited the project as “a unique runway expansion project of supported concrete over reclaimed land, sensitive to environmental and aesthetic considerations.” In other words, the award recognised not only the boldness of carrying a runway on a column-supported deck over the Atlantic, but also how the design handled a constrained, ecologically sensitive coastal site at Santa Cruz. The structural concept is credited to engineer A. Segadães Tavares (firm STA); how the platform works is covered on the engineering page.
What is the Guinness World Record?
Guinness World Records recognises Madeira (Cristiano Ronaldo) Airport as the airport with the longest bridge-supported runway extension, with the entry dated 12 December 2011 and the record length given as 1,020 m.
This figure is not the runway’s total length — the full runway (designation 05/23) is 2,781 m. The record measures specifically the length of runway carried on the bridge-style elevated platform: about 1,020 m of deck on roughly 180 columns, around 57 m above the sea. It is that portion — the viaduct part — that sets the record.
Why do these awards matter?
They confirm that Madeira’s “airport on stilts” is not just a tourist curiosity but a genuinely first-rank piece of civil engineering. Unlike island-reclamation airports such as Kansai or Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok, Funchal extends an existing clifftop runway out over water and a ravine on a forest of columns — a viaduct carrying a runway. The IABSE jury and Guinness both singled out that distinctive approach.
For the full story of how and why the structure was built, see the flagship runway page and the engineering breakdown.
Frequently asked questions
What award did Madeira's runway win?
The runway extension won the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE) Outstanding Structure Award in 2004, sometimes called the "Oscars of structural engineering".
Does Madeira Airport hold a Guinness World Record?
Yes. Guinness World Records recognises it (entry dated 12 December 2011) as the airport with the longest bridge-supported runway extension, at 1,020 m.
What did the IABSE award recognise?
IABSE cited the project as a unique runway expansion of supported concrete over reclaimed land, sensitive to environmental and aesthetic considerations — recognising both the structural achievement and its handling of a difficult coastal site.
Why is 1,020 m the figure in the Guinness record?
The Guinness record measures the length of runway carried on the bridge-style elevated platform — about 1,020 m of the 2,781 m runway — not the runway's total length.