Airport

[en830]

Jersey will be at risk of losing low-cost air operators if the runway is not upgraded.

A £17 2m project to resurface and strengthen the runway starts this Autumn.

The work will take around seven months and it will all be carried out at night between 9pm and 6am six nights a week - Monday to Saturday.

Deputy Alan Maclean, the Minister responsible for the airport, says there will be strenuous effort to minimise noise disturbance for nearby residents.

I can't help thinking why this would only effect low cost airlines

Channelonline

The Assistant Economic Development Minister Deputy Alan Maclean has offered re-assurance that Jersey Airport is safe from any terrorist threat.

It follows concerns from Lord Berriew in the UK over the vulnerability of small airports.

Deputy Alan Maclean says plans are afoot to build new security fencing there by the end of the year.

I guess his re-assurance is quite safe, I can't see Jersey airport being high on the Al-Qaeda hit list and of course a 3m high security fence is going to stop them in their tracks should they so wish to target it. Going to bugger the plane spotters though

Channelonline

[danrok]

The fence will be a total waste of money.  Will most likely mean it would take someone 15 seconds, instead of 5 seconds to climb over. 

[Malachi]

it might be needed to comply with CAA regs. though

[en830]

it might be needed to comply with CAA regs. though

I believe that this is the case.

[Fritz]

danrok
The fence will be a total waste of money.  Will most likely mean it would take someone 15 seconds, instead of 5 seconds to climb over. 


I would have thought the amount of bollards at the airport would be enough to deter terrorists.
After all, the attack on Glasgow airport was thwarted by a single road-sign and a baggage handler on a smoke-break.

[shaun the sheep]

Did we not spend some £xxx million pounds several years ago
resurfacing the "runway"?.
seem to remember there was a big "who har" because a UK firm got the contract, or was that the Alpha Taxi-way?

[en830]

I think that was the new taxi way, also wasn't it discovered that they were employing a couple of illegal immigrants as well.

[shaun the sheep]

Oh yeah, thats right, forgot about that.

[boatyboy]

So here we go again spend, spend, spend, its got to be millions of course on resurfacing the runway.  I know nothing at all about the day today running of an airport, or the requirements by the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority ) or any other airport authority for that matter. However I know a person who works at the airport in a technically high level position. In general conversation about the airport improvements, he told me that unlike Heathrow or Gatwick and the other giant hub airports which have basically the best of everything (sound familiar on Jersey ) The CAA are fully aware that smaller airports due to their relative small size and weight of traffic, are in the micro league and therefore a different criteria is in place to allow the smaller airfields to operate safely.

Should Heathrow runways be built with a specification two metres of reinforced concrete ( a guess ) to land Jumbo Jets, what specification does our little airport runway have to meet ?

With the very poor decisions recently made by our Ministers ( two being overturned by the states ) its time to tighten, up and Assistant Economic Development Minister Deputy Alan Maclean, who is a businessman, should ask the independent Auditor General to check the requirements of the CAA and any other authorised bodies, and a due dilligence check against the spending wish list of the airport senior staff. 

There seems to be more spin coming from the Chief Ministers office, than the English cricket team can serve up !!

[Malachi]

At the moment, the airport runway is only suitable for category 3 aircraft, but some of the aircraft that land in Jersey (like the 737) are category 4 = the runways needs to be re-surfaced/upgraded.

It is going to cost a lot of money, but keeping an airport in good condition has never been cheap: they will always require lots of repairs and maintenance. Rebuilding the apron (the  place where aircraft park at stands/gates and use to get from their stands/gates to the runway) cost a eight figure sum (over £10 million, but the old surface was crumbling into dust in places and minor mishaps involving undercarriage cracking the upper surface and sinking into it/getting stuck were quite common (some gates/stands became no go areas for the heaviest aircraft).