Queenstown Airport has started work on sealing its grass
crosswind runway, which is closed up to 50 times a year due
to unsafe surface conditions.
Work on the runway, which services aircraft weighing up to
eight tonnes, is more than half complete, having started 11
days ago.
Queenstown Airport Corporation chief executive Steve
Sanderson said: "The advantages are clear in that it's easier
maintained and we can keep the runway going these 50 days a
year when snow and other issues would keep it from opening."
In a QAC notice of requirement to Lakes Environmental,
ongoing maintenance and irrigation of the runway was said to
be "costly", and noted concerns about safety in certain
conditions.
The work of laying asphaltic concrete on a base layer was
originally expected to take between six and eight weeks.
During the works, the aircraft normally using the crosswind
runway are sharing use of the main runway, and will return to
the new surface once complete.
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