AUCKLAND, 2 February, 2016 - Auckland Airport has announced today that it will be reducing the operating length of its runway for the next eight weeks to enable maintenance work to be undertaken on a neighbouring taxiway.
From 4 February to 31 March 2016, the airport’s runway operating length will be reduced by 292 metres, from 3,435 metres to 3,043 metres.
Judy Nicholl, Auckland Airport’s general manager – aeronautical operations, says, “The shortening of the runway will enable the airport to replace 310 concrete slabs on the ‘A1A’ taxiway, used by aircraft to access the very eastern end of the runway. Replacing the slabs every 30-50 years is essential to maintain their strength.”
“It is critical that we do the maintenance at this time of the year, when the weather is at its best and the chance of fog is low, because the location of the works means the airport will not have low visibility navigational aids during the maintenance period. These aids assist jet aircraft to land and take off if there is fog at the airport.”
“The shorter runway also means that aircraft will not use SMART Approach flight paths to Auckland Airport from the east during the maintenance period,” says Ms Nicholl.
Facts about the project:
• Each new concrete slab is six square metres in size, and half a metre thick.• The 310 new slabs are made of special airfield concrete, supplied from two on-site concrete batching plants.• Concrete laying is 90 cubic metres per hour, up to a 1,000 cubic metres per day.• The new slabs are laid in 12 metre wide strips using a specialist concrete placing machine specifically purchased for Auckland Airport works several years ago.• The existing concrete is broken using a 50 tonne excavator, and then crushed and recycled for future use.• The maintenance work will be undertaken 24 hours a day / 7 days a week, until completed.
