Halifax airport to extend runway to handle larger cargo planes

A RUNWAY at Nova Scotia's Halifax Stanfield International Airport is to be extended at a cost of US$28 million, with half of the funding coming from federal and provincial coffers and the remainder from airport authorities. The project is expected to be completed in late 2013.


The airport's main runway will be lengthened to 3,200 metres from 2,682 metres in a bid to handle large, wide-bodied cargo aircraft that require a longer runway when fully loaded and in poor weather, reports the Halifax Chronicle Herald.


"Once you get more traffic coming in and out, the ability to be able to piggyback on those flights is much greater," Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter said.


"You get lower costs, you get better routing into markets, particularly into Europe. That would be very, very good for many businesses in this province."


Premier Dexter described the airport as being "just as important to the future of the Atlantic gateway and the ability to move cargo in and out of North America, as the Port of Halifax," the report said.


It added the airport handled 29,000 tonnes of cargo in 2009, and is expected to experience air freight growth of between 85 per cent and 130 per cent over the next decade, according to the Halifax International Airport Authority.


In a related development, the Greater Moncton International airport is proposing a US$24 million extension of its main runway from 1.9 kilometres to 3.2 kilometres also to handle larger cargo aircraft.
(Source:http://www.schednet.com)