Cleverly Creating Capacity

Nick McFarlane, Managing Director – Helios

Andrew Evans, Technical Director – AECOM

Inline Runways

BACKGROUND

The Nature of the Problem

• Underlying growth

• Congested facilities

• Environmental Pressures

‘Surface density’ is a measure of the efficiency of the use of space

Economist.com

It varies considerably

Airport Area Pax Surface density

km2 m m/km2

Denver 135.4 52.5 0.39

Dallas/FW 69.6 60.5 0.87

Chicago O'Hare 31.1 66.8 2.15

Paris CDG 28.2 62.1 2.20

Schiphol 27.9 52.6 1.89

Bejing Capital 24.7 83.7 3.39

Frankfurt 21.0 58.0 2.76

Atlanta 19.0 94.4 4.97

Jakarta 18.0 60.1 3.34

Los Angeles 15.4 66.7 4.33

Tokyo Haneda 14.4 68.9 4.78

Dubai 13.4 66.4 4.96

Singapore 13.2 53.7 4.07

Hong Kong 12.6 59.6 4.73

Heathrow 12.3 72.4 5.89Economist.com

Max per km2 of airport

area more than 15 times

higher

Developing a Solution

• What exactly is the issue?

• How could it be achieved?

• What is the role of technology?

Runway

system is at

capacity

Heathrow Airport

Conventional

solutions

Heathrow Airport

The inline

runway

proposal

Developed by Jock Lowe

• Longest serving Concorde pilot,

• Former Chief Pilot and

Director Flight Operations at British Airways

Heathrow Airport

THE INLINE RUNWAY CONCEPT

How it works

A single runway

With an in-line runway

Safety zone - kept clear of aircraft

Runways are independent –Gives the throughput of two runways

Departures Arrivals

At off-peak times, using the further runway can reduce noise

Use this runway in mixed mode at quiet or off-peak times Noise reduction here due to

displacement of approach path

Land on further runway

Aircraft do not enter the safety zone

Key:Not to scaleILS localiser antenna Near/far field monitor

Clearway/RESA+runway strip

300m 300m50m

Clearway/RESA+runway strip

Safety zone Width = 650m

Air Traffic Control procedures are designed for the inline runways

Missed approach procedures

Considerations:• ICAO/EASA/FAA rules• Obstacle surfaces• OEI operations

Simulations were used to design ground procedures

KEY FEATURES AND ADVANTAGES

Key Features & Advantages

• Uses existing infrastructure

• Uses existing flight paths

• Limits land-take and impact

• Limits runway crossings

• May have some landside advantages

• No restriction on landside development in 'single' runway configuration.

• Can develop either side if landside access is feasible.

• Remote sites retain good views

Landside Advantages

Where else might this be possible?

• Long, thin site

• Where the severance issue is limited

• Where peak hour runway capacity is limiting

What might have been?

The actual 2nd runway

If it had been inline

Where Else?• No runway

crossings (so more capacity)

• Would have removed a hazard on the existing runway

Where Else?• No runway

crossings (so more capacity)

• Would have removed a hazard on the existing runway

Vision

• A credible solution has been developed

• Builds on existing practice, but not constrained by it

• It could be a solution elsewhere

Any Questions?