Hi Scottie Dog,
Nice to hear from you again.
There is an interesting article with Simon Butterworth, (MAN's Head of Airfield Strategy and Compliance
) in this month's TAS magazine which sets out some of the airfield infrastructure projects including what is going on round T3 which explains why Males is going.
Three more remote stands will be going in this area, two of which should be ready for Summer 2008. They will be 737-800 size. It looks like centrelines will be temporary as the stands will have to be realigned if the T3 building is extended.
Although Ringway Rd will not be closed for a few years, work will start soon for approx 12 months to divert utilities to allow the apron to be further extended in the future. This will be in 4 phases - phase 1 will provide 5 B737/A20 stands, Phase 2 wiil give 6 more. "Further phases will be added as demand arises until all the former car park areas have beeen used". It also looks likely that Ringway Rd will still be provided on a new alignment.
This then provokes the question about why they will be 737/A320 sized stands and terminal allocation. The answer - " The current thinking is to redefine T3 as a base for low cost carriers as they do not need airbridges but do require close proximity to the runway in order to reduce turn-around times.The airbridges......can be removed and installed at another terminal, perhaps T1 which itself would be reclassified for scheduled long haul and business traffic offering a full product service.The remaining market ie charter / leisure would then occupy T2. This strategy would of course involve negotiations with a number of airlines moving terminals and would take place over a period of time".
The interview then goes on to cover the future of Pier B (built in 1962 and added too thereafter). Various options are being looked at - building another storey - presumeably to aid segregation -, widening the Pier on both sides or a complete rebuild / relalignment. But " a more definite addition will be the provision of an A380 pod at the S end of the redeveloped pier".
There is still a lot of thinking to do on the future of Pier C whilst an airside link between T1 and T2 is a possiblity.
The major T2 extension was cancelled last year but some elements are still an option. However T2 stands will soon be realigned / redesignated to improve utilization and it looks possible that an automatic docking system will be installed.
Plenty to chew over there then.
Suzeman