Originally Posted by
shamrock7seal
Airport masterplan 20m pax.
Is there space in the airport boundary to extend the runway length and add a starter strip? Surely this will assist in marketing the airport to the likes or Emirates or Etihad?
I could see BRS targeting the following carriers in the years to come:
FINNAIR Helsinki & connections
TURKISH AIRLINES Istanbul & connections
SWISS Zurich & connections
WOW Iceland & connections
ETIHAD Abu Dhabi & connections
EMIRATES Dubai & connections (subject to runway extension/starter-strip)
Will bmi regional still be around in 10-20 years time? What aircraft will they replace their ERJ-145's with?
The current master plan (published in 2006) set out five options for extending the runway, from the status quo ('do nothing' as the plan puts it) to extensions of various lengths. All were focused on the eastern end of the airfield next to the A38 road - the falling ground at the western end makes extending the runway there extremely difficult.
Most of the options would mean taking possession to a greater or lesser degree of part of a common which is also a designated local nature reserve, and dropping the A38 into a 150-metre long tunnel.
One of the options was the construction of a starter strip which the 2006 master plan deals with in this way.
Option 4 – extend the runway by 239m with a 150m starter strip
A starter strip is a length of aircraft pavement that can be used by aircraft at the start of their take off run, but not for landing purposes. This option would add 389m to the runway 27 take off run, but only about 150m to the runway 09 take off run. This therefore means that runway 09 has performance penalties compared with runway 27. However the need to encroach on to Felton Common is avoided.
In 2006 the airport decided:
Our overall conclusion is that the improvement in performance that might be achieved by extending the runway is relatively small in comparison with the costs and the potential environmental impact. The 'do nothing' option was the one chosen then.
The matter was to be kept under review at future updates of the master plan. The airport is currently preparing a new draft master plan to be published probably early next year for further public consultation following two rounds of pre-draft master plan public consultation over the past eleven months. However, the airport has said categorically that a runway extension does not form part of the new master plan.
To get anywhere near 20 mppa will require a larger site which the airport recognises and is exploring ways of acquiring extra land - it already owns some outside the present airport boundary. Another problem is the airport being situated within the Green Belt although part of it is in a Green Belt inset and the airport hopes that more of the site can be so designated in future.