Cabo Ruivo Seaplane Base () was an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...

for

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...

s located in the city of

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, the capital of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. It takes its name from the Lisbon neighbourhood of Cabo Ruivo. The airport was, especially throughout the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, a major gateway and escape route for intercontinental air travel.

History

In the 1930s, the Portuguese Government decided to replace the Campo Internacional de Aterragem, at Alverca, with two new airports nearer to Lisbon's city center: today's

Lisbon Portela Airport Humberto Delgado Airport , informally Lisbon Airport and previously Portela Airport, is an international airport located northeast of the historical city centre of Lisbon, Portugal. With more than 35 million passengers per year, it is the 12 ...

and the Cabo Ruivo Seaplane Base on the Tagus River, which handled transatlantic flights operated with seaplanes. Pan Am established its provisional seaplane base in Cabo Ruivo in 1938, at the southeast edge of today's

Parque das Nações The Parque das Nações (; ''Park of the Nations''), colloquially known as Expo (as the site of the 1998 Lisbon World Exposition), is a (civil parish) and typical Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter of Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal. Loca ...

. In 1942, the Portuguese Government decided to create a proper air-marine base, initially intended to be located on the same site. Eventually, it was decided to build the airport structures around the Doca dos Olivais., two miles further up the Tagus. Avenida de Berlim, a major road, was built to connect the land and sea airports. The US intercontinental airline

Pan American World Airways Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and more commonly known as Pan Am, was an airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States for ...

, which was a major promoter of the airport's construction, used the airport as a hub for its transatlantic flights until 1945. The first scheduled commercial passenger flight, from Port Washington, landed on 29 June 1939 on the water airstrip of the Cabo Ruivo Seaplane Base. This Atlantic flight from New York to Lisbon was operated by a

Boeing 314 The Boeing 314 Clipper was an American long-range flying boat produced by Boeing from 1938 to 1941. One of the largest aircraft of its time, it had the range to cross the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. For its wing, Boeing re-used the design fro ...

Dixie Clipper The ''Dixie Clipper'' (civil registration NC18605) was an American Boeing 314 Clipper flying boat, best known for in June 1939 beginning the first scheduled air service between America and Europe, the first American aircraft to carry passengers ...

" of Pan American World Airways, with 22 passengers and 11 crew members on board. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the transatlantic clippers provided an escape route for refugees from Continental Europe, taking advantage of Portugal's neutral stance in the war. With the enormous increase in the importance of terrestrial air traffic the era of seaplanes ended and the flight operations in Cabo Ruivo were discontinued in the late 1950s. The dock was redeveloped in the context of Lisbon's 1998 World Expo. Today, the dock is at the center of the

, where the

Lisbon Oceanarium The Lisbon Oceanarium (, ) is an oceanarium in Lisbon, Portugal. It is located in the ''Parque das Nações'', which was the exhibition grounds for the Expo '98. It is one of the largest indoor aquariums in Europe and approximately 1 million peop ...

is located.

Accidents and incidents

On 22 February 1943, the ''Yankee Clipper'' seaplane of Pan American World Airways was destroyed in a crash while landing on the Tagus River. 24 of the 39 occupants were killed. In 1958, a Martin PBM-5 Mariner crashed on an outbound flight to Madeira, about an hour after taking off from Cabo Ruivo."ASN Aircraft accident Martin PBM-5 Mariner CS-THB Lisbon, Portugal"
''Aviation Safety Network''. 9 November 1958.

References

External links

History of the Airport
(PDF-file; 604 kB) from the Associação Náutica da Marina do Parque das Nações (in Portuguese)

(in Portuguese) {{authority control Airports in Portugal Buildings and structures in Lisbon Defunct airports Transport in Lisbon Portugal in World War II Military history of Lisbon