Runways, Aprons and Taxiways

[Aviador]

Last week I asked Airbus about Airbus A350 operations from BRS and LBA.

@Airbus #AskTheA350Crew Can the A350 operate from short runways ie LBA or BRS in the UK.

This was the answer:

@Forums4airports Quick performance check : we could operate from either of those two at medium weight.

That might seem disappointing but medium weight doesn't mean the aircraft can't depart without a full load of passengers but it's range will be limited.

Over to the number cruncher!?

(Posted similar in the LBA thread)

 

[TheLocalYokel]

That might seem disappointing but medium weight doesn't mean the aircraft can't depart without a full load of passengers but it's range will be limited.

Over to the number cruncher!?

A check on the web suggests that the 900 series (the 800 series sees to have been phased out although a few are in service) can fly around 14,000 km with passengers and baggage. I suppose then that the Middle East should be in range at medium weight, also the east coast of the USA if airlines decide to use this type on such routes. I don't know if any do at the moment.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Runway extension

I note that the airport is considering building a raised platform in the future as an extended apron. If it ever went ahead it seems to me that it would be an expensive venture.

They eschew the idea of a runway extension, and every option for it in the past has related to the eastern end of the airfield which has two major obstacles: the A38 and Felton Common. Overcoming these would be extremely expensive both moneywise (the A 38 would have to be dropped into a 150 metre long tunnel for starters) and environmentally (the common is designated by the local authority as a local nature reserve so at the very least the airport would almost certainly have to find replacement land).

Is the western end so out of court that it can never be considered for an extension? We know the airport land falls sharply away at that end of the runway down to a perimeter road and beyond that a field and then woodland.

If the airport is considering a major civil engineering enterprise to enlarge its apron how much would it cost to extend the runway on a platform a la Funchal? The distance from the end of the current runway to the edge of the woods is about 500 metres according to Google Earth. It would probably be necessary to remove some of the woodland, not least for the approach lighting, and this would doubtless cause alarm and distress to environmentalists but the woods are not a common and there would be no need for expensive tunnelling of an A-class road.

I wonder if the western end has ever seriously been considered, and if it has and been rejected what the reasons were.