How long a runway do you need ...

[Gertrude the Wombat]

... in order to market yourself as a UK "regional airport"?

I'm just after a ballpark here, I know anyone planning this for real would need all sorts of expensive technical and financial feasibility studies, and that other things besides runway length would be issues.

[redsnail]

Um for us, 4,000'. So I think if you had 7,000' of tarmac that should keep most light to medium jets (JAR classification) more than happy. (No big terrain considerations accounted for)

[bfisk]

Dont't know for UK; for Norway: 800m and plenty of mountains seems to do the trick :ok:

[Pugilistic Animus]

what's the field elevation and hottest anual temp on average; I've seen 'jet airports' with RWY's less than 4000'

PA

[Gertrude the Wombat]

what's the field elevation and hottest anual temp on average
Zero. Rarely above 30C.

[G-SPOTs Lost]

I think regional - I think Loco...

I operate from an airport serviced by Ryanair, we have 1800m elevation 30ft temp rarely above 30, they were comfortable coming in and out in their 200's but were weight limited in their 737-800's on their longest routes. They did used to tanker fuel around though so may not be very objective

4000ft reddo you're not on the 400 then!!!

[redsnail]

Nup :ok: 800. I prefer more than 4,000' of course.

[Pugilistic Animus]

Check out FRG --- I've seen ships as big as an A319 and B727 [FedEx] get out of there:ok:

http://dtpp.myairplane.com/pdfs/00704AD.PDF

and NY LGA
http://dtpp.myairplane.com/pdfs/00289AD.PDF

4 X 7000' RWY's and it can support a Dc-10, L-1011 and currently a 767-400

but these matters not only depend on aircraft performance and arpt geometry, but also pavement strength, perhaps OverRun can be more helpful

PA

[Capot]

As a very rough rule of thumb, 2000m will give most airports the ability to attract short and medium haul traffic without payload penalties. Under ideal conditions, some medium to long haul is possible.

But it depends on the topography to a huge extent. "Obstructions" in the funnel centred on the runway centreline can make a lot of difference to payloads, but extra concrete is not usually the solution to that.

Changing the topography can do the trick, which is why a hill near the new Athens (Sparta) airport lost its top about 30 years ago.

What the airlines need to know is that when they schedule flights at an airport, they can always operate them with a full payload, unaffected by wind or weather unless extreme. Runway length is an important consideration (ie TODA, ASDA and LDA), but so are many other things, including a good catchment area, for the regional airport in the UK specified in the question.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Thanks all.

I've got an adequate answer, albeit the wrong one, but such is life in politics sometimes :)

[Sir George Cayley]

And the actual answer is 6000'

Why? 'Cos then A320 drivers won't sweat and you'll appear in US Jepps and Biz Jet Guides. But you'll need handling and a freq. H24 will elevate you too.

An ILS or an RNAV (GNSS) NPA or better still APV 1 approach counts as well.

And, as Bournemouth found out - a cash point machine!!!

Sir George Cayley