Roça Porto Alegre Airport

The closure was due to economic reasons and obsolescence. The airstrip was privately built and maintained to serve the Roça Porto Alegre, a large cocoa and coffee plantation. With the nationalization and subsequent collapse of the colonial plantation system post-independence, the private funding and logistical necessity for the airstrip vanished. All air traffic for the island was consolidated at the main São Tomé International Airport (TMS) near the capital.

The site is completely abandoned and derelict. Satellite imagery clearly shows the outline of the former runway, but it is heavily overgrown with grass, shrubs, and encroaching tropical vegetation. There are no remaining airport facilities like hangars or terminal buildings. The land is not being used for any other purpose and is being slowly reclaimed by nature, rendering the airstrip unusable.

Roça Porto Alegre Airport was a private airfield crucial to the operations of the Roça Porto Alegre plantation, one of the most remote on the island. During its active period in the mid-20th century, it provided a vital link for transporting plantation owners, managers, important visitors, and high-priority supplies or cargo. It allowed personnel to bypass the poorly developed and time-consuming road network, connecting the isolated southern tip of the island with the capital, São Tomé. Operations were limited to small, single or twin-engine propeller aircraft capable of using a short, unpaved runway.

There are no known plans or credible prospects for reopening the Roça Porto Alegre Airport. The island's air transport needs are served by the São Tomé International Airport (TMS). The cost to clear, resurface, and certify the remote airstrip to modern aviation standards would be prohibitively expensive and is not economically justifiable. Improved ground transportation and the proximity of boat services to nearby tourist sites (like Ilhéu das Rolas) make the airstrip redundant.