BA has answer to delays at Heathrow airport
Delays at Heathrow airport caused by strong winds could be cut by up to two thirds believes British Airways.
At Heathrow planes are restricted to landing on one runway at a time. But at Gatwick airport planes take off and land on the same runway in so called ‘mixed mode’ operation. This leads to 48 take-offs and landings per hour at Gatwick, compared to 42 per hour at Heathrow says BA.
“Years of practical experience of runway operation at Heathrow and Gatwick has shown conclusively that mixed mode operation provides much better protection against delays when weather conditions are difficult,” says BA infrastructure manager, Paul Ellis.
“The introduction of mixed mode at Heathrow would be a real bonus for passengers. We estimate that it would cut weather delays by up to two thirds from day one and provide much greater reliability throughout the timetable,” adds Ellis.
BA’s analysis has found that although weather conditions are similar at both airports aggregate delays for arrivals are far worse at Heathrow than at Gatwick airport.
In 2006, the last full year for which data is available, BA says that Heathrow experienced air traffic control restrictions on 276 days leading to a total delay on short haul flights of 280,000 minutes.
In contrast Gatwick had restrictions on only 52 days leading to total delays on short haul flights of 21,000 minutes. Although Heathrow has fewer than twice as many short haul flights as Gatwick, its aggregate delays were 13 times worse than Gatwick’s says BA.
BA will submit these figures to the government consultation on increasing capacity at Heathrow, which includes proposals to phase in the introduction of mixed mode operation on the runways.
Written by: Nick Purdom
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