Silvershadow,
Being SLF, Portuguese and a FNC native, i have often seen (both in the media and by myself)
the reverse:
The "foreign" carriers operating, and TAP (and other locals) refusing to even depart to or from LPMA.
I have had flights delayed for more than 24 hours. I saw the old terminal with a couple of
thounsand people wainting to get out. I have seen some very annoyed people asking the ground
crew why where "the others" taking off from LPMA and why was TAP refusing to send aircraft
to get them out (people get agitated when they have been wainting for a flight for 2 or 3
days). Sometimes these episodes degenerated into riot.
So, when you state that "It seems that local pilots know there is no retribution for operating
when the wind is above limits, so they use their own judgement and experience." You are beeing
unfair, both to pilots and local authorities. Although experience does help. When those situations
arise before departure, the pilots simply elect not to depart to LPMA, and avoid lengthy diversions
into a small island (PXO) which isn't really equipped to handle a big influx of unplanned "tourists".
In Trim,
The runway was re-aligned, the place where 05 ends had a high rise hotel and some holliday
villas on it. It was previously aligned a bit more to the east.
As for "challenge" i don't (and most probably will never) have an opinion (i'm just a microlight
student), but the local media talked about some unexpected phenomena that was noticed by
aircrew after the new platform was constructed.
Aparently (again reported by local media) a report was comissioned by the airport authority to
some large aviation entity (Airbus?), but i haven't read anything substantial about this.
(Note: "Local Media" as in "regular-non-aviation-press-and-tv")
Capn Notarious
The landings can be quite "interesting", even when the winds are calm. The bank angles on the turn
to final are a bit on the "unusual" side of comercial passenger flights.
Still, i think the scenery is worth those intense minutes.
If you get a diversion to PXO, assuming it's during the summer and you are allowed to leave the
airport, you could try the beach (it's excellent).
If i have got you too scared, you can always try to get a flight to PXO, and get on the ferry to
Funchal (about 2 hours travel). During summer the sea is mostly flat, and it is quite enjoyable.
Regards
CS-DNA