From SOU Airport Facebook page -
- We're asking to extend the runway by just 164m & add some car parking
- We're not expanding the airport
- The extension remains fully within our current boundaries
From their photo posted here one can fully and clearly see what SOU airport's constraints are about any future expansion and the type of planes that can get in and out with an economical payload
- It is very limiting.
You can see the touchdown zones TDZ and the 'rubber' at each end, and see just how short the airport is and what (obstacles) are at each end of the runway.
The 164m starter strip (shown in blue) could enable an A320 to take maybe a full load (186 pax) to say Faro, Malaga, or possibly Corfu...(when and if, we get the package holidaymaker back again en masse)
Doubt it will be able to do the Canaries non stop with 186 pax - it would likely be payload restricted.
It has already been established that Ryanair will not come to SOU with it's 737's, even with their shorter routes that they fly in the main. That type is simply not suitable for SOU.
Someone on FB suggested to build the runway over the M27....
OK so to tunnel the m27 under would take about a £1bn or more and years to do,
Impossible...
I'm not bashing SOU - merely highlighting there is not much they can do with the current hardware...
