The 3,100m North Runway at Dublin Airport has provided a blueprint for aviation infrastructure delivery within budgetary and operational constraints, according to a key member of the scheme’s leadership.

Driven by airport operator DAA (formerly the Dublin Airport Authority) the Dublin Airport North Runway was delivered in August 2022 with a price tag of around €320M (£270M). For comparison,

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Addressing audience members at the recent

Airports conference, DAA head of capacity planning and capital development Simon Fagan shared insights on the factors entailed in delivering the scheme.

A key driver for the project was capacity building, he said.

“In about 2005, when we went for planning, we had one terminal, one runway. Both were pretty much at capacity, so planning was a relatively straightforward process.

“The existing runway in Dublin was short by international standards at 2,650m and we were starting to have some payload restrictions on long-haul destinations, so this new runway was designed for 3,100m.”

Although “still short by some international standards”, The North Runway – located 1.69km north of and parallel to the South Runway – has lent Dublin Airport some key characteristics, including the fact that it is the only airport on the island of Ireland capable of facilitating parallel landings and departures, Fagan said.

He noted that long-term planning was one of the unique features behind the project’s success, with land for the North Runway having been safeguarded by airport planners since the 1960s. This meant the runway was built within the airport’s existing land bank, preventing the need to demolish residential areas or acquire private land.

Notwithstanding those advantages, the project encountered hurdles, including the financial crisis in 2008, resulting in “a sharp drop in air travel” and a pause to the scheme for about 10 years.

“We bounced back in about 2015 or 2016, to full recovery. We activated the project and had to get an extension for the 10-year planning permission.”

More recently, however, the Covid-19 pandemic severely reduced airport revenues and caused DAA to record heavy financial losses, further necessitating budgetary restraint.

Unique features of the scheme include a fully rigid pavement; u

It involved installing over 340,000 m² of new pavement, 425km of electrical cabling, and 2,500 airfield lights, demanding complex supply chain management and continuous on-site concrete batching.

Key civil engineering works across the airport focused on upgrading pavement, drainage, and electrical systems to support the increased capacity brought by the North Runway.

Engineering challenges included integrating the new runway into existing taxiway networks, electrical systems and navigational aids necessitating careful phasing and overnight construction to keep the airport open 24/7.

Fagan told Airports attendees a key consideration of the scheme was futureproofing. The new runway was designed for ICAO Code F aircraft – the ICAO Aerodrome Reference Code for the largest class of aircraft, which feature a wingspan from 65m up to 80m, “even though we don’t have any Code F operations”.

“We didn’t then, we don’t now, and I don’t think the chances of Code F in Dublin are any time soon,” he said. “But from a resilience point of view, obviously this is a once-in-a-generation project. Our chances of delivering new runways in the future are probably quite limited, so we made a decision to futureproof the runway for generations to come.”

Other engineering and operational challenges emerged in the course of the scheme, including one from the interaction between the new North Runway and the existing Cross Runway (16/34).

Following the opening of the runway, the Irish Aviation Authority determined that service vehicles could no longer safely cross Runway 16/34, which now functions as a primary taxiway. This created a logistical hurdle, as vehicles would otherwise have to take circuitous routes to reach the West Apron, potentially delaying time-sensitive cargo and catering operations.

To resolve this, a major engineering project was initiated

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Overall, however Fagan concluded that the North Runway is seen as one of the most cost-effective and efficiently delivered aviation projects of its scale – and one that has strengthened Ireland’s global connectivity and long-term aviation capacity, unlocking the infrastructure required to build new piers, boarding gates, and aircraft parking stands.

“Unlike Manchester and Gatwick, for example, we’re fortunate that we have a big separation between the two runways,  which are completely independent. We’re very likely to go into arrivals on the southern runway and departures on the northern runway, pretty much all day long.

“Technically, this has doubled the capacity of the runway system, albeit we’ve only released a fraction of that capacity so far,” he said.

“If we’re talking about the enormous cost of what these projects can be, we’ve delivered probably the cheapest full-length runway certainly on the island of Ireland, but throughout Europe.”

He concluded: “With something of this magnitude in terms of capacity, you have the potential to boost other parts of the system like the gates, stands and terminal processes.

“We’re on a steady capacity release strategy where we release some of this capacity every year to maintain the integrity of the entire system.”