Last full-length runway built in the UK ?
Thread Starter
Last full-length runway built in the UK ?
Lots of references in the press recently to the last full-length runway built in the UK being Heathrow's, although the media can't quite decide whether that was in 1946 or 1948.
I seem to recall Manchester Airport making that claim on its own behalf, with some justification (3,048 meters of it), in 2001.
Do journalists just have short memories, or isn't Manchester in the UK any more ?
I seem to recall Manchester Airport making that claim on its own behalf, with some justification (3,048 meters of it), in 2001.
Do journalists just have short memories, or isn't Manchester in the UK any more ?
The UK national media is based in London and seldom gets off it's collective backside to leave the capital.
I'm sure that 3048m counts as a full length runway, but it isn't around London so clearly doesn't count.
I'm sure that 3048m counts as a full length runway, but it isn't around London so clearly doesn't count.
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Middlesex (under the flightpath)
Posts: 1,946
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Of course MAN was the last airport to have a new "full-length" runway, can't remember when it opened though.
On my last few departures from Ringway noticed departing aircraft being in a queue waiting to take off and being held up by a landing aircraft (as if there was only one runway) while the second runway was unused!
No idea about the runway built in 1946, those making the point never mention where it is, nor do they define "full-length". With so many RAF airfields becoming available for civil use at that time, can't imagine why any new ones would need to be built. Now, however, we need two more, and that's just at LHR!
AFAIK the two longest runways in the UK are at LHR and, again AFAIK, were extended in the 1970s.
On my last few departures from Ringway noticed departing aircraft being in a queue waiting to take off and being held up by a landing aircraft (as if there was only one runway) while the second runway was unused!
No idea about the runway built in 1946, those making the point never mention where it is, nor do they define "full-length". With so many RAF airfields becoming available for civil use at that time, can't imagine why any new ones would need to be built. Now, however, we need two more, and that's just at LHR!
AFAIK the two longest runways in the UK are at LHR and, again AFAIK, were extended in the 1970s.
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: London Whipsnade Wildlife Park
Posts: 5,038
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
London City has a 'full length' runway and was constructed in the 1980's. Aircraft performance, payload and range dictates the types that can operate from any runway.
longer than MAN. just 
RAF Machrihanish is a former Royal Air Force station located 3 NM (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) west of Campbeltown[1] at the tip of Kintyre. It is now known as MoD Machrihanish and also incorporates Campbeltown Airport which has commercial flights to Glasgow, operated by Loganair.
Its runway is 3,049 m (10,003 ft) long.
cant see the press coming that far north
RAF Machrihanish is a former Royal Air Force station located 3 NM (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) west of Campbeltown[1] at the tip of Kintyre. It is now known as MoD Machrihanish and also incorporates Campbeltown Airport which has commercial flights to Glasgow, operated by Loganair.
Its runway is 3,049 m (10,003 ft) long.
cant see the press coming that far north
Thread Starter
London City has a 'full length' runway and was constructed in the 1980's.
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: London
Posts: 523
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I believe that BOTH the runways built in the UK in the last 50 years are in the North West .
Manchester R2 opened 2001 and at Liverpool in 1966, a new 7,500 ft (2,286 m) runway was opened by Prince Philip on a new site to the southeast of the existing airfield.
Only other runways built have been LCY and Sheffield (Now closed ironically)
Manchester R2 opened 2001 and at Liverpool in 1966, a new 7,500 ft (2,286 m) runway was opened by Prince Philip on a new site to the southeast of the existing airfield.
Only other runways built have been LCY and Sheffield (Now closed ironically)
Thread Starter
Any one know exactly what constitutes "full length"?
In the context in which the term is currently being bandied around by the media, it's clearly intended to exclude the likes of LCY, Sheffield, etc, which are/were only able to accommodate a small range of aircraft types.
Oh, and anywhere else north of Watford.
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Wales
Posts: 85
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Slightly off-topic. What will be the NEXT full-length runway in the UK?
IMHO, it will be Pembrey - since the motorsports centre that currently cuts its tarmac in half looks like going out of business. This would allow something called the Swansea Bay Airport to come into being, with 2,400m immediately available and 3,400m in a year or two. Such capacity would allow for a major MRO and training facility (including A380 revisible runway capacity), plus a rather small local domestic passenger operation.
Just check out Google Earth/Maps to understand this. And consider that less than £1m would produce a facility employing maybe 5-700 people? Right next to a mainline railway and just a few miles from the end of the M4.
A better proposition than Southend or Manston, probably.
IMHO, it will be Pembrey - since the motorsports centre that currently cuts its tarmac in half looks like going out of business. This would allow something called the Swansea Bay Airport to come into being, with 2,400m immediately available and 3,400m in a year or two. Such capacity would allow for a major MRO and training facility (including A380 revisible runway capacity), plus a rather small local domestic passenger operation.
Just check out Google Earth/Maps to understand this. And consider that less than £1m would produce a facility employing maybe 5-700 people? Right next to a mainline railway and just a few miles from the end of the M4.
A better proposition than Southend or Manston, probably.
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Coventry
Age: 48
Posts: 1,946
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
On my last few departures from Ringway noticed departing aircraft being in a queue waiting to take off and being held up by a landing aircraft (as if there was only one runway) while the second runway was unused!
Buster - totally agree about LCY and the conditions, that runway is more than capable of serving the destinations LCY wants to serve, with the obvious exception of JFK, but the A318 wasn't previously on their types list anyway...
What about DSA? I know the runway was there as RAF Finningley, but it is still a new airport in the commercial sense, and weren't there some major works done on the runway too before opening?
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Coventry
Age: 48
Posts: 1,946
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Slightly off-topic. What will be the NEXT full-length runway in the UK?
This would allow something called the Swansea Bay Airport to come into being, with 2,400m immediately available and 3,400m in a year or two. Such capacity would allow for a major MRO and training facility (including A380 revisible runway capacity), plus a rather small local domestic passenger operation.
And consider that less than £1m would produce a facility employing maybe 5-700 people?
Nearest comparable current runway project is BHX's extension - 400m? for £145m - although a lot of that is going on A45 diversion. You are still out by around 50-100x though I'm afraid.
Right next to a mainline railway and just a few miles from the end of the M4.
A better proposition than Southend or Manston, probably.
A better proposition than Southend or Manston, probably.
This is a branchline, not a mainline - nearest current station is Pembrey & Burry Port - 3 1/2 hours to London, with a change. Sorry - one direct train each day!
The only way you could even contemplate getting passengers out here would be if our troubled industry suddenly boomed overnight and doubled in size. Even then, you'd need a high speed rail link at least to Swansea, and that won't be happening until at least 2060.
Sorry, but this one is a non-starter and if any AMs think otherwise, they are going to be throwing even more money away than they have already squandered on the pointless Anglesey air link.
