 Because of the height of the runway relative to the beach below, an extension was very difficult and very expensive to perform.Between 1983 and 1986, a 200 meter extension was built; 14 years later, the runway was again extended.Following the 2000 extension, the runway of what is now the Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport measures long and is capable of handling wide-body commercial jets like the Boeing 747 or the Airbus A340.