last airport that God built?
I worked at LBA for many years... the wx was far worse than recent times, poor or non existent ILS, precious little lighting.... you were more likely to divert from LBA than any other UK airport (Scottish Highlands and Islands included!) by a country mile! In winter the runway was often called "skid pan alley" and all this with just 5000 foot to play with.
However all this is in the past. When the runway was extended and a new terminal was built they had an opportunity to drastically improve the situation. But they categorically failed, instead of thinking big, of planning for the future, nay of even building a place fit for a few widebodies a day they completely and utterly blew it. That first summer in the mid 80's there were 4 widebodies per week, clearly showing the potential, but for most of the past 20 years there has been almost none, despite their total numbers growing. Why?
Firstly, the LDA... inadequate for a safe op, when you throw in crosswinds, a wet runway, gradients and poor terrain. Those first A300's had 353pax... throw in complacency and sorry, but I would rather stay at home. After the overrun the L1011 crews were sent to the sim to practice short field landings, (a little too late). On the old runway , Britannia (737-2) often used to even warn the pax prior to landing, it's short so expect a positive touchdown.... previous post by Sqark7000 spot-on. I think that even nowadays 737/757 crews need total respect for this airfield and the conditions. Conclusion.... unsuitable for widebody ops, (I know the PIA A310 only has about 180pax, but this is an exception rather than the norm). But this problem could have been avoided when the runway was extended. Did they not think that large planes would land there? I honestly don't beleive they did.
Secondly, the new terminal that opened around the same time was totally and utterly inadequate from day one. Can you beleive that? I read on another thread that posters were complaining about the continuous building site that is LBA and that this predicament was caused in more recent times. Untrue. The brand spanking new terminal they gave us in the mid 80's was a total waste of money. Every facet was inadequate, the check-in area, international deps and arrivals, even the domestic functions. All that the new airport terminal was capable of handling, (and here its similar to the runway) was the same type of aircraft that operated before, ie max size basic 737. Incredibly, even if just two 737s came around the same time it could not cope. Just one year later they started to extend the place and the rest is history. Cost to the taxpayer, millions and Joe Public kept in the dark. Cost to the airport over the years must be unthinkable.
The management at the time, Denison was APD, I think No2 was Savage, must take full credit. I think their motto was "think small" and "bad by design"