Lisbon Residents Gain Real-Time Insight Into Overhead Air Traffic

António Boaventura, a Lisbon resident with a background in business management, created Lisbon Finals, an online system that automatically records aircraft speed, altitude, noise level and wall-vibration data from a personal station on his terrace. The first measurement was logged on May 3, and the platform has already catalogued more than 39,000 flights.

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The hardware, purchased for roughly €1,000, was assembled over about a month and a half. “The whole system is completely autonomous, it works on its own,” Boaventura explained. Artificial-intelligence algorithms aggregate the raw variables and publish flight numbers, airline identifiers and accompanying images on the website and an associated Instagram feed. The open-source design allows additional measuring stations to be integrated, expanding coverage across the city.

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Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport limits night movements to 91 weekly flights and a maximum of 26 between midnight and 6 a.m. The platform’s data for July recorded 1,477 night-time flights, of which 397 breached the regulatory window and 207 exceeded 98.9 decibels, classed as “critical violations.” Boaventura, who grew up in France where night-time restrictions are stricter, noted his surprise at the volume of nocturnal traffic.

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Zero, a Portuguese environmental association, cites the platform’s findings to criticize the 2024-2029 Noise Action Plan drafted by ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal. Zero urges a review of the plan and faster renegotiation of the airport concession, linking closure of Humberto Delgado to the slated 2037 opening of the new Luís de Camões Airport at Alcochete.

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• “I've got used to it and, honestly, my grandparents had a house in Alvalade, so since I was a kid I've been watching the planes go by,” — António Boaventura

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• “I realised we could go much further, measuring the aircraft and recording not only the decibels but also the vibrations on the walls, so I started building the system bit by bit,” — António Boaventura

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• “The whole system is completely autonomous, it works on its own,” — António Boaventura

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