BRS runway extension
skyloone,
The airport’s master plan deals with the issue in some detail and suggests five options (apart from the first the others would all involve an extension at the eastern end of the airfield) that have been considered which, in summary, are:
1. Do nothing and reassess in the light of experience if thought necessary.
2. Extend by 140 metres - the maximum that can be accomplished within existing airport land without any need for airport control of Felton Common. The A 38 would still need to use a 150-metre long tunnel and ILS for 09 would need to be relocated just inside airport land.
3. Extend by 389 metres - the maximum that can be accommodated within existing airport land but the ILS localiser and possibly approach lighting would need to sited on the Common, with a 240 metre by 150 metre area of the Common coming into airport control.
4. Extend by 239 metres with a 150 metre starter strip. 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.
5. Extend runway further, with further encroachment onto Felton Common. Safety requirements might erode some of the potential benefits.
The overall conclusion in the master plan 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’. Therefore the preferred option is the ‘do nothing’ but the issue will be kept under review in subsequent updates of the master plan.
The full master plan can be accessed via the Bristol Airport website.
Thomson Boeing 787
bravoromeosierra,
A poster on another forum has posted a date and times when a B 787 will visit in connection with a long haul announcement. Because I don't believe that PPRuNe encourages the posting of links to other aviation sites, and also because the date has not been officially confirmed, I'll PM you the details and you can make of them what you will.
I suspect that a public announcement will be made nearer the date, assuming the information about a date in the other forum is correct, if the idea is to obtain some publicity for the venture.