Portimao 11/06/19 Dave Rose
I was recently on a non-spotting holiday in the Algarve, staying in the western city of Lagos. There is a small airfield at Lagos, but never saw anything move over the 10 days I was there!! I did hear the constant prop drone overhead and realised they were para droppers from the airfield 8 miles away in Alvor / Portimao. I then found out that Sevenair provide scheduled services to Cascais near Lisbon twice daily,using a Dornier 228 CS-AYT. I popped along to coincide with an arrival. Sevenair manage one of the 2 parachute clubs, and fly people in for jumps, the service starts in the north of Portugal at Viseu. The flight delivered 19 pax and took 24 out on my visit, and at 50 euros you can do a day return in Lisbon on the cheap.
The terminal is very cosy, with access straight onto the apron, there were also visiting light aircraft parked from Germany and USA on my visit, and the car park offers good views of proceedings.
SkydiveAlgarve is the other operator, and use a Dornier D0-28 Skyservant EC-KTC, and Sevenair use a Pilatus PC6 G-CECI, both operating constantly and dropping from 17,000ft freefall. Interestingly, neither aircraft wait for the droppers to land, basically flying under them to get down quickly!!
If you are in the Algarve its worth a visit, take the Alvor road off the N125 coast road, so easy to find. Some shots from my visit -
