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January 13, 2015Porto Francisco de Sá Carneiro Airport Spotting Guide
- last modified on March 21, 2022
Located in the North of Portugal, Porto (OPO/LPPR) is the country’s second biggest city (after the capital Lisbon) with around 2 million people living in its metropolitan area. Furthermore, Porto has got a huge area of influence, attracting a lot of market from Galicia due to great accessibility from the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, as well as because of the very much bigger offer in terms of airlines and nonstop destinations.
Porto is the 2nd busiest airport in Portugal, nowadays handling more than 13 Million passengers per year, therefore being 3 times bigger than the 3 galician airports (Santiago + A Coruña + Vigo) combined in the same period. It is a hub for Portugal’s flagship airline TAP Air Portugal and 3 other based airlines, Ryanair, Easy Jet and Transavia.
Even though TAP is the busiest airline in terms of movements, Ryanair is the leading airline in terms of passenger numbers. TAP operates a daily long-haul flight with an Airbus A330-900 Neo to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, also operating a daily flight (except on Tuesdays) with the A321neoLR to Newark. TAP’s intra-European and domestic flights are flown by aircrafts of the A320 family and by the E190 of TAP Express.
Freighters are sadly most likely to operate in the night hours. On weekdays, Star Air (on behalf of UPS) performs brief-stops to (un)load cargo on its route from Cologne to Lisbon in the early morning and returns in the evening on the opposite route. DHL (EAT Leipzig) brings an Airbus A300 on weekdays and European Air Transport brings a Boeing 757-200 in the afternoons from Tuesday to Thursday. TNT/ASL Airlines also perform a daily flight on weekdays with an early morning arrival and a late evening departure, staying all day on the ground. And Swiftair does more or less the same as ASL Airlines with their ATR42F/72F fleet (on Mondays there is a ferry flight leaving Porto to Lisbon in the afternoon).
On a non-regular basis, there are visits of small operators like Fleet Air International, Sprint Air, RAF-Avia among many others. Turkish Airlines Cargo recently added OPO to its list of cargo destinations with a weekly triangular flight (Istanbul-Madrid-Porto-Istanbul) on the 777F performing it on Sundays. Porto is also the airport in Portugal which receives the most visits of Russian/soviet aircraft like Antonov An-12, An-26, An-124, Ilyushin IL76TD, almost every time only for fuel stops but sometimes also for cargo charter duties. Like that, Boeing 747-400F are also very welcomed guests once in a while.
Even though Porto is not that interesting to visit comparing to other major European airports and despite the fact that there are no official spotting locations, it’s a very spotter-friendly airport and has plenty of good spots where you can catch all movements, no matter which runway is in use.
Written by Carlos Seabra, Rui Miguel (local spotters) and Severin Hackenberger. Updated by Lars Kämena and Henry Reichert: March 2022
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| Airport Information | |
| Runways | |
| 17/35 | 3.480m (11.417ft) Asphalt |
| Terminals | All airline are served at the same Terminal |
| Airport Chart |  |
| Spotting Information | |
| Ladder | You can easily take pictures in every spot without a ladder. However, for the demanding spotters who don’t want any obstacles at all in their shots in some places (e.g. fences, traffic signals, …), a ladder is highly recommended. |
| Car/Public Transport | Porto has a relatively small airport. From the Terminal, every spot is reachable by foot, but just a few are easy to get in a reasonable amount of time (less than 30 minutes), unless you are up to walk for over an hour. Therefore, a car is highly recommended to reach almost every location; the parking spots are just 15 to 20 meters far from the place you photograph, except in 2 or 3 spots when you have to walk but never more than 5 minutes. It’s easy! |
| Restrooms | These facilities are available inside the Airport Terminal, coffeeshops, supermarkets and gas stations. |
| Drinks/Food | Inside the Terminal’s public area, you have some coffeeshops in both Arrival/Departures floors (e.g. Costa Coffee on Arrivals) and a few small restaurants on the Departures floor only. On Arrivals, there is also a shop with vending machines where you can get a large variety of drinks, some snacks and sandwiches (and also a machine with electronic stuff such as mobile phone charger cables, adapters and also memory cards if you urgently need some kind of those devices).
But, as typical, in the Terminal all prices are super inflated. The best option to save some money is to go to the coffeeshops, restaurants or supermarkets around the airport and buy everything you need. There is also a huge Shopping Center named “Mar Shopping” around 4 kilometers southwest of the airport (less than 10 minutes driving), where almost everything is available. |
| Hotels | There are several options close to the airport and hundreds if you choose to stay around or in Porto city, for all budgets. Depending on demand and how sooner you book your stay, you can get good accommodation with reasonable fares starting at around 50€ per night. |
| Season | If we could describe Porto’s climate in two words, the best option should’ve been “mild overall”. The region features a Mediterranean climate.
Winter is mild and rainy; however, long periods with mild temperatures and sunny days may also be frequent. The relatively high annual precipitation is concentrated in the Winter months. Summer is warm and dry; however, cool and rainy days can occasionally interrupt the dry season. But the particular area where the airport is located has a kind of microclimate and can be pretty unstable due to the humidity. Fog is a pretty often sight, can (dis)appear very quickly and it can also last all day, in worst cases a succession of days, non-stop. Porto is the Portuguese airport with most LVO days per year. |
| Security | The Police passes by frequently inside the airport perimeter and sometimes stops to check if everything is alright about the emergency exits, but you don’t have to worry at all as you are just practicing your hobby peacefully and not doing something illegal. |
| Runway Usage | |
| 17/35 | RWY 17: This is used when the wind blows predominantly from South and in case of low visibility operations (LVO), no matter the wind, because it’s the only one equipped with ILS (up to CAT II). Since there isn’t any parallel taxiway till the beginning of the runway, the traffic which is not able to depart from intersection Foxtrot, has to perform backtrack, leading to a drastic reduction of the hourly capacity to less than 10 movements per hour.
RWY 35: is used when the wind blows predominantly from North and is the preferred runway for operational reasons due to the poor layout of the airport, being way more used than 17. |
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Spot #1 – Rua da Fabrica hill |
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| WHERE | This spot is likely the best one to substitute the former spot #1, which had to be closed due to the extension of taxiway Foxtrot, which will be extended up to the firefighting department in the north, in order to make more movements per hour possible when operating runway 17. This new spot is situated on the hill next to the new Rua da Fábrica on both sides of the road and gets all movements regardless which runway is in operation. From terminal it takes about 6-7 minutes by car and about 25-30 minutes when walking. You can park your car at spot #2 in the Rua das Bicas and then walk the remaining 700 meters by foot. Parking just at the Rua da Fábrica is possible, but neither welcomed by the population nor the police. Standing at the intersection Rua da Fábrica/Rua das Bicas, you can already see a dirt path starting next to the sidewalk of Rua da Fábrica. Follow the dirt path and you’ll arrive at the spot in with 3 or 4 minutes. |
| WHAT | At this spot you can photograph every traffic on runway 17/35, though 35 departures are already relatively high. Planes vacating taxiway F can be photograph as well. |
| TIME | From sunrise until early midday for aircaft on the runway. Aircarft vacating taxiway F until afternoon. |
| MISC. | A ladder is not needed. No shadows around. There are several tiny snack bars in near, but by car it takes you only 4 and by foot 20 minutes to the next bigger city with supermarket and gas station, Pedras Rubras. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 70-300mm Closeups A330: 150mm / A320 = 100mm |
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Spot #2 – Rua das Bicas |
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| WHERE | This spot is just 400m far from the spot 1 at the Rua das Bicas. By car from the Terminal you will take just between 5 to 10 minutes to reach it and you can park your car in the other side of the road, there are plenty of parking space. It’s also possible to reach this place by feet, it will take more or less 15 to 20 minutes depending of your walking speed. |
| WHAT | In this spot you can also photograph all the traffic on runway 17/35 and the nearby taxiway E. But mind that the distance to the runway centerline is slightly higher than at spot 1.
In all the area you will shoot through the fence and sometimes the grass is not cut (see the example), so we recommend to bring a ladder. |
| TIME | From sunrise until early midday. |
| MISC. | There are no shades in this area. The nearest coffeehouse is 240m far (around 3 minutes walking) but there is not too much in terms of snacks, so we recommend you to bring all you need. Regarding lunch, this shop serves low cost meals but you don’t have great variety. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | Between 30mm (minimum length for Foxtrot) and 400mm (maximum length for the runway – for bizjets, for example). |
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Spot #3 – Dirthill |
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| WHERE | From the morning spot all you have to do is to go down the road and go through the tunnel (there’s a sidewalk for pedestrians). Once on the other side go up and straight until you see on your left side an emergency exit from the airport. Spot2 in on the oposite side, on a hill. |
| WHAT | Just like the morning spot, this spot is midfield and you can see all landing and departures, no mater the runway. However there’s more fence then on the previous spot. Yet when aircraft are passing in front of you there will be a clear area, just as you can see on the photos bellow. |
| TIME | From 13:00 until the end of the day. |
| MISC. | There’s no shade in here and no facilities or anywhere nearby to buy food, so bring all that you need. If you are with a car, there’s no proper parking spots. Yet it’s best to park where it’s point out on the map, as close as to fence as you can, then parking at the emergency gate for the obvious reasons. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 70mm = A330, 115mm = A319, 180mm = A310 on TWY F |
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Spot #4 – Cargofence |
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| WHERE | This spot is no exact location rather the area along the fences at the cargo area which can be approached from the north side (spot 3). Parking is almost always possible by the fence or otherwise inside the nearby parking areas/by the roadside. You can either stand on the northern side of the cargo building, where you have coming from or you pass the building and stay south of it along ‘André Gonçalves’ by the roadside. |
| WHAT | All planes parked and taxiing to/from the cargo apron, sometimes also VIP jets. CS-TQJ is stored here for five years now and can be photographed easily. |
| TIME | All day long, depending on the angle, northern part is better in the afternoon. Heat haze can be a problem. |
| MISC. | There are no shades on this area. If you’re coming during the week expect a lot of traffic. Ladder needed, anythin else needed can be found at the nearby gas stations or supermarkets. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | Depending on your position and angle from 24mm up to 300mm. |
North Side:
South Side:
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Spot #5 – Roadside |
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| WHERE | This spot is located by the roadside of a unnamed road, which connects PAX terminal and Cargo terminal. You can stop inside a dirty entrance to a sand/stone storage area or similar. Angle is good there and you are more safe than by the roadside – many drivers are furious and wild! |
| WHAT | Arrivals runway 35 and maybe Line-Ups through the fence – never tried yet. |
| TIME | From early midday till sunset. |
| MISC. | Parking limited as well as free view. Ladder might be useful, but be aware of fast drivers! Everything needed inside nearby gas stations/villages/supermarkets. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 70 – 200mm |
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Spot #6 – National Road 107 |
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| WHERE | If you leave the Terminal and walk by foot southbound, always side by side with the airport perimeter, in less than 10 minutes you’ll reach this location.
If you are driving, plenty of free parking spots can be found there along the roadside, although in some periods of the day, a lot of airport staff park their cars in that place, so it may be difficult to find an available one. |
| WHAT | This location allows an overview for the remote stands from S20 to S66 as well as the taxiways S2/S4/S6. The remaining stands are full of obstacles (e.g. fences, airbridges and possibly other aircraft).
From this spot you’ll be able to photograph airplanes parked on those remote stands and also taxiing traffic to the active runway. Normally the goal of this spot if to shoot aircraft parked on stands S20-S40 which normally arrive during the night (or during a period when you can’t be at the airport) and that is the only way to capture them. Shooting for stands S60-S66 is possible but not a good option due to the distance. |
| TIME | Excluding nighttime and rainy/grey days, for taxiing aircraft, light is good until 11:30 in the peak of the Winter and 13:30 in the peak of Summer.
For all aircraft parked on the remote stands (S20 to S66), light is good all day in the peak of Winter and acceptable until 16:00 in the peak of Summer. Regarding heat haze, it can be a problem especially from stand S40 onwards and naturally it gets stronger as the distance increases. Overall, it’s pretty acceptable on the coolest seasons but you won’t get any good shot in the warmest ones… |
| MISC. | There are no shadows in this area. Food/drinks and restrooms are available in the Main Terminal, less than 10 minutes away by foot.
Mind that there is the risk of having any kind of clutter in front of your “target”, such as stairs, airport vehicles or even another aircraft. The fence is tight but perfectly OK for 55mm diameter lenses. Some holes may be slightly expanded, so you won’t face any problem with 77mm lenses as well. You can bring your ladder if you want, and also the tripod for night shots. All stands have good artificial light but you’ll note that the aircraft will be better lit in the nose than in the tail… Nothing which you can’t improve with a good edition. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 70mm are enough for a close-up of a taxiing aircraft, up to 400mm depending of the size of the parked aircraft plus how far it is from your position. |
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Spot #7 – Staff Parking 5 |
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| WHERE | If you leave the Terminal and walk by foot northbound, in less than 2 minutes you’ll arrive to the entrance of the P5, an exclusive parking for airport staff. It will be very easy to find as it is well signalized as “Parque STAFF P5”.
If you have a car, you have various solutions to park it, but the best of them are paid. If you intend to perform a very short visit just to catch something and leave, you may be able to park the car in the Cargo Terminal zone as it’s an area of pick-up/drop-off cargo. However, Police passes often and the possibility of penalties are not discarded… Act at your own risk. Also free of charge you have “Rua da Caralinda”, in front of a Primary School (location marked in the map) where parking spots are normally available. From there, you have to walk about 5 minutes until you reach the Staff Parking P5. Finally you have the paid (and safest) options: Airport Parking P4 just in front of the Cargo Terminal where you pay 0,60€ per each 15 minutes up to a maximum of 8,00€ per day – 2 minutes walking to reach P5 – and Airport Parking P1 in front of the Passenger Terminal where you pay 0,70€ per each 15 minutes up to a maximum of 10,00€ per day. |
| WHAT | This location has a limited overview for a few stands with any obstacles:
S55 – just in front of the parking and where some A124 and B747-400F are parked as this stand is one of the few in OPO able to handle these heavy gems. S56 and S70 – depending of the size of the aircraft and how it’s parked – normally only doable with small aircraft parked nose-out. It’s rather rare nowadays to have interesting aircraft on these stands as normally commercial aircraft are parked there, but eventually it’s possible to see there Antonovs An-26 in cargo flights or fuel stops and Falcons (50/900/2000/7X) in State flights. S60 to S66 – the spot is useful to catch the aircraft parked on these stands: some cargo aircraft (like the AT42/72F of Swiftair and the B737-400F of ASL Airlines), business jets (except Global Express, Falcon 7X and Gulfstreams normally parked on S40-S43) and all general aviation which may visit the airfield. Eventually, if stands S55/S56 are not occupied, you may be able to catch in the morning the taxiing aircraft on S5/S6 taxiways after landing on runway 35 or on its way to depart from runway 17. There isn’t anything else you could catch here, so you won’t stay here longer than 5 or 10 minutes, unless you intend to spend more time doing night shots. You can bring your tripod with you, you won’t face any problem. |
| TIME | Excluding rainy/grey days and nighttime, it really depends of what type of photo you want and how the aircraft are parked. Overall, you’ll have the Sun in your back all morning and all type of photos should have good light. Taxiing aircraft on S5/S6 should be well lit until late afternoon in the peak of the Winter and midday in the peak of Summer. Eventually if you get very lucky in the late afternoon, you can get some interesting backlit shots. Regarding the aircraft parked on the stands S60 to S66, light is good all day in the peak of Winter and acceptable until afternoon in the peak of Summer. |
| MISC. | Excluding some trees next to the fence (Control Tower side), there are no significant shadows in this little area.
Regarding food/drinks and restrooms, you have all those facilities in the Main Terminal, just 2 minutes away. The fence is OK for 55mm diameter lenses but a bit tight for 77mm, anyway please do not bring the ladder as you should be the more discrete possible in order to not attract the attention of any security staff. Subtlety is the secret of success. Heat haze advice: It’s possible to get some heat haze in the photos to the stands S60-S66, especially in warm days when it can be strong and disturbing. The best option is always trying to shoot in the first hour after sunrise. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | Depending of the type of photo you want to perform, between 18mm for overviews and 350mm for small business jets parked on the farthest stands (S60-S66). |
On the last shot you can see some people infront of the face – this is where the exact spot is loacted at:
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Spot #8 – Carpark – 35 Arrivals |
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| WHERE | The car park is located south of the Terminal and easy to reach by foot within 10 minutes. It is for vacationers and not for visitors so if you are there by car you have to park at one of the free parking spots along the road side and from there you can easily walk to the spot. Or you simply walk to spot #6 from the terminal by foot as you only need to continue a few meters from spot #6 on then you are here (walk should take ~5 minutes from the terminal). On google maps this spot may look different than it does today: the parking lot is not anymore closed and stuffed with containers! It is only a parking for cars today with a barrier to the street, no gate or similar. |
| WHAT | Arrivals Runway 35. |
| TIME | From sunrise till early noon. |
| MISC. | Food, drinks and restrooms are available in the Terminal which you can easily reach by foot. A ladder is not necesarry but can be helpful for the few aircrafts that are coming in very low. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 100-400mm |
There is a new spot a bit northern than the closed Rua da Fabrica one which I tested this September, feel free to contact me if you want to implent it into the guide.
Please check your mailbox 😉
-Sev
Dear Eef!
That might happen, because the airport is a bit outside the city and maybe known under another village… It always depends on the programm!
Unfortunately, we just know those two spots at the moment, but within the next weeks we’ll publish a OPO guide with more than 15 spots, but I think this won’t help you right now… Sorry, we’re still working on it.
Of course we don’t like to suggest/recommend other guide-websites, but you can find three other guides in the www 😉
https://aircraftspotting.co.uk/planespotting-guides/portugal.php
https://www.airportspotting.com/spotting-porto-airport/
https://www.airportspotting.com/spotting-porto-airport/
Hopefully this helps you ‘n good luck in OPO…
Regards, Severin
Dear Sir,
Is the airport located in Porto or another city? Car-navigation (spottersite) does not find “”R. da Fabrica””. It would be nice to got the exact/proper
location/city.
Kind regards,
E. Velthorst
Hi, yes the airport is in Porto, Portugal and is named “Aeroporto Francisco Sá Carneiro”. But I really don´t know what is your problem? Where do you wanna go exactly?
-Julian
Dear Julian,
In the spotter-site :
https://www.spotterguide.net/planespotting/europe/portugal/porto-opo-lppr/
are the mentioned streetnames not recognizable by a car-navigationsystem. In the meantime I have found the sites by typing MAIA in stead of PORTO (as City). The above site has two plane-spotting sites. Do you know if there are more spotting-sites where to go to (photographing) without using a ladder?
Thanks for your replay.
Kind regards,
E. Velthorst
the Netherlands