Issue 2 2005, Past issues / 10 June 2005 /
To help reach its 2015 prediction of a billion passengers travelling on commercial aircraft, part of the FAA’s Technology R&D program is concentrating on taxiway and obstruction lighting.
Many of today’s busiest airports cannot meet today’s peak arrival and departure demands and future traffic increases will only exacerbate capacity challenges. In many cases, construction of new runways will be feasible and helpful, but this approach alone is unlikely to resolve all future challenges. Expanded runway capacity must be accompanied by improvements in areas such as design standards, management strategies, decision support aids and procedures that will allow greater capacity.
Increases in airport operations also raise the risk of runway incursions. Other factors that may contribute to this safety problem include: when aircraft of different types and capabilities move in close proximity; weather changes that affect visibility and conceal normal visual cue; unclear signs and surface markings; pilots who are unfamiliar with an airport and complex and varied airport geometry. (more…)
Issue 1 2005, Past issues / 16 March 2005 /
London Gatwick is the world’s busiest single runway airport in the world and therefore values the smooth running and maintenance of its lighting systems, writes Tim Hardy.
London Gatwick Airport (LGW) began life in 1930 as a small flying club (Surrey Aero Club) when the owner, Ronald Walters, obtained his first flying licence. By May 1936 passengers were boarding the first scheduled service from Gatwick to Paris, with routes developing throughout that year to include Malmo via Amsterdam, Hamburg, Copenhagen and the Isle of Wight from Gatwick.
LGW is now the busiest single runway in the world, the second largest airport in the UK and the sixth busiest international airport in the world, with over 250,000 air transport movements a year. Gatwick serves over 200 destinations, with around 90 airlines currently operating from the airport. It handles more than 31 million passengers a year, a figure which is forecast to rise to around 40 million by around 2012/13. BAA is investing almost £800 million into the airport’s infrastructure over the next ten years to improve the customer experience and to maximise the use of its single runway, two terminal operation. (more…)
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