After four and a half months of construction work, Prague Airport has resumed operations on its main runway. Since Friday afternoon, take-offs and landings no longer use the secondary runway, but the freshly modernised strip.
Since Friday afternoon, the main runway at Prague Airport has been back in operation following extensive renovation work. During the past four and a half months, air traffic had been diverted to the secondary runway due to the works – resulting in aircraft flying directly over the city for months.
The main runway was officially reopened on Friday, 15 August, at 3:00 pm. Prior to this, extensive final works were carried out: a thorough cleaning of the runway, acceptance procedures, renewed markings, and the calibration and surveying of all technical equipment – particularly the lighting and radio navigation systems.
In total, 15 structural and technical measures were implemented. These included the construction of a completely new taxiway, the modernisation of another, the renewal of the lighting system on the main runway, the replacement of the airport fence, and the construction of a new drainage system. A new surface of almost 50 000 m² was created in record time – equivalent to around seven football pitches. More than 2 500 people and around 2 300 vehicles were involved in the construction work.
The Roads and Motorways Directorate also took advantage of the closure to completely demolish and rebuild the pedestrian bridge with integrated airfield lighting over the D7 motorway.
During the renovation, all aircraft took off and landed exclusively on the secondary runway. “The airport thanks the residents of the surrounding communities for their patience. From the afternoon of 15 August, all operations are once again permanently carried out via the main runway,” said Denisa Hejtmánková, spokesperson for Prague Airport, in a statement to Prague Daily News, emphasising, however, that during such construction phases there was no alternative to using the secondary runway.
In the long term, Prague Airport plans to build a second parallel runway, which will be used during repair or maintenance work on the main strip once it is operational. The planning process for this construction project is currently underway.
