Brisbane Airport is pleased to announce the successful completion of major works on the airport’s legacy runway, with aircraft operations returning to normal from 4pm on Sunday, 29th September.
For the past 3 months, essential maintenance has been carried out on the ends of the runway, which shortened the length available for aircraft use from 3.5km to 2.7km.
Due to the shortened length, wide-bodied and international flights were required to use the new parallel runway.
“We thank Brisbane residents for their patience during this period. We know it has meant temporary changes to where aircraft fly and we appreciate the understanding shown by the community,” noted airport CEO,Gert-Jan de Graaff.
“This work was necessary to keep Brisbane Airport’s runway safe, and the project has been completed within the time we promised the community.
BNE’s airside safety manager, Aaron Pond, celebrates the milestone.
“The team’s efforts to complete line marking while a low-pressure system delivered rain and strong winds was impressive, with crews using heaters to dry the tarmac so we could re-open it this weekend.”
The project involved replacing 18 cracked slabs at the end of the runway which were installed in the 1980s.
Achieving this necessitated the removal of 1,350 square metres of concrete slabs on the taxiway and threshold; placement of 570 cubic metres of concrete using 90 concrete trucks; laying 600 tonnes of asphalt on the taxiway; and installing 1,000 sandbags to mark the shortened runway.
In addition it involved the use of a bespoke concrete mix that had to be in the ground within 60 minutes of being mixed offsite; and use of a vacuum attachment to lift concrete slabs weighing hundreds of kilograms out of the ground, enabling a faster and safer removal process
This essential project is part of the A$5 billion Future BNE programme, which includes transformation of the Domestic Terminal, International Terminal, planning Terminal 3 and retail, commercial and industrial projects.