Runway slots at Stansted

[GOLF-INDIA BRAVO]

with this juditial report now being ordered
for Stansted what is the maximum runways usage per hour ( I know it varies due to aircraft types, landings v take offs)
and how close is it getting to saturation point?

As 80-90% are B737 type aircraft I can see that they don`t have the problem
Manchester, Gatwick and Heathrow have with the large variation in types and sizes

This is really to satisfy my curiosity

G-I-B

[5milesbaby]

The best way is to look at the situations elsewhere. It was mentioned recently in another thread that with the correct mix of traffic, LHR can get 48 landings per hour, the average is 42. This depends on types, and weather including wind, visibility, and runway condition. Again with the correct mix, it should be possible to get 60 departures per hour, one a minute. This needs all to be same vortex wake, same speed, and all diverging after departure (ie, one left, one right, then one straight on etc). LGW I believe still manages the best single runway usage figures in the world, and that has on occasion just topped 60 per hour, but not being an airport controller, I'll expect someone who is will give you the fuller facts.

[GOLF-INDIA BRAVO]

5milesbaby

Thanks for the reply, I know it gets quite complicated when you have to take into account types of runway exit ext and weather

G-I-B

[missy]

To digress, slots generally, I'd be interested to know what factors are considered with the allocation of slots? Is this consistently applied across all capacity limited airports?

[Gonzo]

I'm guessing that 50-60 an hour would be achievable on a runway with decent high speed exits and all mediums....

[vintage ATCO]

Runway slots at the London airports (not sure about City) and others in the country, are handled by Airports Co-ordination Ltd. That is why in the AIP entires for these airports it says that prospective operators need to talk to ACL first.

ACL work on information supplied by the airport. How many per hour, per 30 mins, per 15 mins, arrivals, departures, mix-mode. All this data is churned away and applied to the operators. I believe it is still sensible to build in a couple of fire breaks during the day where the hourly rate is less, allowing you to catch up if it had all gone 'pear-shaped' earlier :D

Long time since I was involved.

[TheOddOne]

NATS at LGW now have many hours in the day with 49 as the declared capacity (against which slots are allocated) and sometimes manage a 56 hour, but I think that this is the maximum achievable at present. The 49 slots an hour is what is considered achievable with a variety of traffic mix from Dash 8 and 146 through A319 to 747. Slots don't differentiate between any of these types but Airport Co-ordination Ltd (ACL) do try and balance arrivals and departures. As an airport, we spend money on re-aligning fast turnoffs (FR is now a good 60 knot exit) and providing more entry points for departures.

For a little more detail, ACL are the idependent body who allocate the runway slots and to whom all operators have to apply. however, they do give us a list of slots not taken up for particular times so that out of office hours, if an operator is desparate for an extra slot, for a rescue flight for a broken a/c for instance, we will help if we can. However, it is important that individual airports aren't involved in the initial slot issue process so that we can' be accused of favouring any particular airline/operator/customer.

LGW is, of course, FAR AND AWAY the busiest single-runway airport in the world; 31 million pax and over 250,000 ATMs per year. Heathrow have just under twice as many pax but a much lower declared runway capacity. This is partly due to the less efficient mono-mode (mostly) required by lack of separation between the runways for full mixed-mode ops. This may change. Fortunately, the no. of pax per a/c is greater at LHR, so they're not hurting so much just yet.

WRT LHR's runway use policy; it's not just lack of legal separation between the runways that restricts mix-mode use (always a bit of a red herring, that, I always thought). There's a social context. For instance, schools under the arrivals path plan outdoor activities around the 'alternation' pattern and blind people go out shopping when the a/c aren't overhead all the time and they can hear the traffic, pedestrian crossing signals etc. No doubt full mix-mode will come to LHR, sooner rather than later. Possibly the trade-off here will be more social inconvenience during the day against a smaller increase in night flying.

Cheers,
TheOddOne

[Vlad the Impaler]

I believe the record at Stansted is 53 in an hour. Summer traffic sees fairly regular 50 hours and loads of high 40's.

[Brilliant Disguise]

The Manchester single runway record is 60 from 2001ish. Regularly in the mid 50s back then too.

[Musket90]

Although Airport Co-ordination allocates runway slots to some airports, the number of runway slots available in each hour is agreed in advance of each season between a number of parties. What's taken into account is a number of factors including ATC, the taxiway/ramp infrastructure, the passenger throughput of the terminal (which can be affected by aircraft size) etc. Stansted's hourly agreed slots varies throughout the day based on demand. The early morning departure period is the most constrained due to the terminal passenger throughput. Probably why Luton is now seeing considerable growth