HELSINKI-VANTAAN RUNWAY CAPACITY GROWS AGAIN

New approach procedures were introduced at Helsinki- Vantaa Airport in November, which will make it possible to increase the capacity of incoming aircraft, since they can be directed to land in parallel on two runways at the same time. Parallel landings are among the benefits of a fully operational third runway.

The new approach procedures will be phased in gradually. The first phase, which began in November 2005 introduced the dependent procedure by which arriving aircraft can be directed by turns in short intervals to land at the parallel runways 1 and 3. In about a year’s time the aim will be to introduce independent procedures that will allow planes to land at the two parallel runways simultaneously.

“Even by the end of 2005 the new arrangement had enabled us to overcome the congestion of incoming aircraft during the afternoon peak period,” said Raine Luojus, deputy chief of air traffic control at Helsinki- Vantaa. “From the beginning of 2006 the number of operations, landings and takeoffs, will rise by 5 per cent, to 80 operations an hour.”

The CAA was planning the parallel method even when the third runway was being planned. It was decided to initiate the new procedures ahead of schedule because demand during the busiest hours of the afternoon at Helsinki-Vantaa has grown faster than predicted. In 2002, before the third runway opened, the airport’s runways were able to handle 48 operations an hour.

“We prepared carefully for the new arrangements during 2005. We have carried out extensive simulations and our air traffic controllers have been trained for the new system. The new approach procedures are just as safe as the previous model by which approaching planes were directed one at a time to a single runway,” said Mr Luojus.

Simultaneous, parallel approaches are already carried out at Europe’s busier airports, such as Munich, Paris and Brussels.