Tech executives flying private jets to the Web Summit technology conference in Portugal are being forced to land as far away as Badajoz in Spain as Lisbon’s main airport struggles to accommodate growing numbers of visitors using personal aircraft.According to a report by the Financial Times, the organisers of one of the largest tech events have warned that the airport is turning away some private jets after receiving complaints from delegates about being required to use landing sites several hours’ drive away.The report says that this is the first time the event, an industry gathering with thousands of visitors including start-ups, government delegations, and technology leaders, has experienced such a bottleneck.The situation indicates more visitors are choosing to fly privately.“Please be advised that there is currently a shortage of private jet slots during Web Summit at Lisbon Airport (LIS) and surrounding smaller airports,” the event organisers said. “Lisbon Airport is experiencing difficulty managing the volume of traffic, resulting in a lack of available take-off and landing slots for all operations,” they added.The organisers added that “some guests, in particular those with larger planes, have found the only viable landing slots during Web Summit are now upwards of two hours’ drive from Lisbon, including in Spain.”“These are circumstances outside of our control, and we apologise that we cannot do more to help secure slots. We would strongly advise flying commercial into Lisbon.”The bottleneck is partly due to increased conference attendance.Web Summit, which moved from Ireland to Lisbon approximately a decade ago, has grown into one of the tech world’s largest events. The number of start-ups exhibiting at the show, which spans multiple event halls and a stadium, has increased more than six-fold over the past decade to more than 1,000 this year.More than 75 governments will send delegations to the event this year, either accompanying start-ups seeking investment or as officials and ministers meet entrepreneurs working in areas such as AI. Many delegations travel on government or royal jets to accommodate large parties. There is a trend toward private jet use among tech company founders.
