The Airport
How Madeira's Runway-on-Pillars Was Engineered
Not one long bridge but ~31 portal frames carrying a post-tensioned deck — here is how the viaduct-runway actually works.
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Madeira Airport’s runway platform is not a single long-span bridge but a sequence of roughly 31 portal frames — large circular concrete columns spaced about 32 m apart, carrying portal beams around 189 m long that support a bi-directionally post-tensioned concrete deck. Foundations are direct footings on rock or piles driven up to ~60 m deep. Built around 1996–2000 and reported at about €520 million, the deck was engineered to take aircraft up to Boeing 747 size.
How does the runway platform actually work?
It works as a series of portal frames, not one long bridge. Roughly 31 portal frames stand in the bay: each is a pair of large circular concrete columns carrying a deep horizontal portal beam, with the frames repeated along the alignment at spans of about 32 m. The portal beams — on the order of 189 m long — span across the structure and carry the runway deck above them.
The deck itself is a bi-directionally post-tensioned (prestressed) concrete slab, tensioned in two directions so it can carry the heavy static loads and the dynamic impact of aircraft touching down. The whole platform stretches roughly 1,000–1,020 m long and about 178–180 m wide, sitting around 57 m above the Atlantic.
| Element | Approximate figure |
|---|---|
| Portal frames | ~31 |
| Column spacing | ~32 m spans |
| Portal beam length | ~189 m |
| Column height | up to ~70 m (varies with terrain) |
| Number of columns | ~180 |
| Deck | post-tensioned concrete, both directions |
| Design aircraft | up to Boeing 747 |
What are the foundations like?
The foundations are mixed, chosen frame by frame according to the ground. Where sound rock lay near the surface, the columns rest on large direct concrete footings. Where the surface rock was inadequate, the load is carried down on concrete piles driven up to about 60 m deep — so beneath some columns the structure reaches roughly as far below as the deck stands above the water.
This pragmatic, location-specific foundation strategy is part of what made the project buildable on such a difficult coastal site, where seabed conditions change sharply over short distances.
Who designed and built it, and when?
The structural concept is generally credited to Portuguese engineer A. Segadães Tavares, of the firm STA (Segadães Tavares & Associados). Main construction is most often attributed to Brazilian contractor Andrade Gutierrez; a reported first-phase consortium (“ZED”) included EMPEC and ZAGOPE (Portugal), Dragados (Spain), French civil-works firms and Conrad Zschokke (Switzerland). Consulgal acted as project management and construction supervision, and the owner and operator is ANA Aeroportos de Portugal.
Construction ran from about 1996 to 2000, with the platform opening to traffic on 15 September 2000; broader airport works (terminal, accesses) continued to around 2002. The total cost is widely cited at about €520 million, though that figure is repeated more often than it is independently documented and may bundle the wider airport programme.
How does it compare with other engineered airports?
Madeira solves its space problem in a way almost no other major airport does — by building a runway on a viaduct rather than reclaiming land.
- Kansai (Osaka) and Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok: entirely artificial islands reclaimed from the sea.
- Wellington (New Zealand): a runway on a cut-and-filled isthmus, on solid ground.
- Gibraltar: a runway crossing a public road on the flat; Gisborne: crossing an active railway.
What sets Funchal apart is that it extends an existing clifftop runway out over water and a ravine on a forest of columns — a viaduct carrying a runway. That distinction is why the structure won the IABSE Outstanding Structure Award and a Guinness World Record, and why it is so often called the airport built on stilts. For the full overview, see the flagship runway page.
Frequently asked questions
How is Madeira's runway platform built?
It is a series of roughly 31 portal frames — large circular columns spaced about 32 m apart, carrying portal beams around 189 m long that support a bi-directionally post-tensioned concrete deck, rather than a single long-span bridge.
How deep are the foundations?
Foundations are mixed. Where sound rock was near the surface, large direct concrete footings were used; where surface rock was inadequate, the columns sit on concrete piles driven up to about 60 m deep.
Who designed and built the Madeira runway extension?
The structural concept is credited to Portuguese engineer A. Segadães Tavares (firm STA – Segadães Tavares & Associados). Main construction is most often attributed to Brazilian contractor Andrade Gutierrez, with Consulgal supervising and ANA Aeroportos de Portugal as owner.
How is Madeira different from Kansai or Hong Kong airports?
Kansai and Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok are built on reclaimed artificial islands. Madeira instead extends an existing clifftop runway out over the sea on a column-supported deck — a viaduct carrying a runway, not land reclaimed from the ocean.
What loads was the deck designed for?
The post-tensioned deck was engineered to take the static and dynamic loads of aircraft up to Boeing 747 size, including the impact forces of landing, while spanning a bay and ravine about 57 m above the sea.