The layout is not that unusual, a lot of airports have done the same reconstruction. Nice, for example, and they should be familiar with that one.
I assume you have not been there. I am sure many would disagree with your statement that it is not that unusual a layout. What has Nice got to do with it - comparing them is like comparing chalk and cheese? The taxiway in Nice is not TWICE the width of the runways, and neither is it between them.
And why have NCE invested in the world's largest flashing 'X', that you can see from 20K'
Not of any relevance to the topic we are discussing. The larg flashing X at Nice is ONLY used when there is WIP on one of the runways. It is NEVER used to highlight a taxiway.
The markings are quite clearly those of a taxiway and not a runway which, since it was CAVOK, makes you wonder what was going on in that FD? Amazing!
I guess as someone who never makes mistakes, you never amaze yourself!
That said, the failure to verify visual cues (runway intersection holding point signage etc) is rather worrying.
Runway incursions and events like this happen almost every day somewhere on the globe, and yes it is rather worrying, but pointing accusing fingers at one crew, or suggesting that they were not attentive or didn't have (or follow) appropriate SOPS is not the way to prevent future occurrences.
Potentially this type of incident could happen to any airline - as long as humans are involved there is a capacity for error. Fortunately in this case the error was picked up by ATC.
Of course we should continually seek ways to prevent future incidents such as lighting, signage etc and even better or more relevant training.
I would ask the question "Are you perfect?" - I suspect the honest answer would be "No" - then who are you to judge imperfection?
Am in no way making excuses for this crew. I am sure they are mortified by such an error.
I see this type of incident as a "system failure". Who are we to judge when we do not have any facts about what was going on at the time?
Rather than damning any airline or individuals we need to ask how we can prevent these incidents from ever occurring again?
= the most sensible post IMO