New Runways

On November 20, 2008, three major airports opened new runways designed to address their individual congestion issues. The three runways will allow for an additional 330,000 takeoffs and landings each year.

Sea-Tac Airport, the nation’s 27th busiest, experiences delays due to low visibility conditions approximately 44% of the year. However, its two existing runways were too close to allow for two streams of traffic to land in such conditions. The new, $1.1-billion runway, which does allow for two streams of traffic, was designed to reduce arrival delays by as much as 80%, save millions of dollars in wasted fuel, and prevent the release of thousands of tons of greenhouse gases.

In 2004, the FAA imposed flight caps on Chicago O’Hare International Airport due to extreme delays that were affecting the airport’s operations. The new runway--the airport’s seventh and its first since 1971--is part of a larger, $15-billion expansion project. Designed to handle planes as large as the Boeing 747, the runway will primarily be used for arrivals in inclement weather. The new runway, which has prompted the flight cap to be lifted, will reduce delays by as much as 40% and allow for an additional 52,000 flights per year, according to the FAA.

Washington-Dulles International Airport is the nation’s 16th busiest airport, with more than 419,127 takeoffs and landings per year and more than 12 million passengers. The new runway, which is equipped with a high-speed exit taxiway and which can handle larger planes, such as the Airbus A380, will see more than 100,000 takeoffs and landings per year. This marks Dulles’s first new runway since 1962, when the airport opened for business.