Following intense criticism from a number of airlines, Copenhagen Airport will postpone the planned closing down of its cross-wind runway as part of its comprehensive expansion project Expanding CPH.
Instead, it will temporarily relocate the runway to another part of the airport’s grounds before fully axing it at a later date.
“Some airlines have expressed concern about the closure of the cross-wind runway in about five years’ time. We’ve therefore decided to invest around 300 million kroner in moving the cross-wind runway so that it can remain operational until such time as it becomes necessary to build on the whole runway,” said Thomas Woldbye, the CEO of CPH Airport.
“This is a major investment, but one we’re willing to make for our customers. This will keep the negative consequences at a minimum. However, we will need to fully close the moved cross-wind runway once the airport is handling 40 million passengers a year.”
READ MORE: CPH Airport expansion plans hit SAS turbulence
Hundreds of cancellations
Scandinavian airline SAS contended late last year that closing the runway cross-section, from which planes can take off and land under particularly windy conditions, would lead to the airport being closed about 25 times per year – resulting in about 500 cancelled flights and even more delays for SAS alone.
At the time, the airport contended that the move, which is part of its big plans to increase its annual passenger capacity from 26.6 to 40 million, would only result in 60 cancellations per year.
Passenger numbers up
In related news, over 29 million people passed through Copenhagen Airport in 2016 – a 9.1 percent increase compared to the previous year.
The passenger windfall was particularly boosted by a 2.3 million increase in international travellers.
