LONDON LUTON OPENS NEW TAXIWAY AND DE-ICING FACILITY

London Luton Airport (LLA) has opened a second new taxiway and aircraft de-icing facility as part of its £160 million transformation programme. 

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The new taxiway (Foxtrot), which follows the early 2018 opening of Taxiway Bravo, will help the airport manage aircraft ground movements more efficiently and contribute to ongoing efforts to minimise delays.

Foxtrot is 520 metres long, and required 6,000m3 of concrete and 110,000 hours to complete.

It contains nine kilometres of electric cables connecting to the 150 LED lights and is home to one of the largest remote de-icing facilities in Europe. 

The facility can de-ice up to seven planes at once and incorporates 600m of drainage to ensure that all de-icing liquid is captured and disposed of safely.

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According to LLA, this will help it maintain on-time departures during exceptionally cold weather. 

The new taxiway project was carried out by local construction firm Ryebridge and managed by consultancy Turner & Townsend.

The airport notes that 4,000m3 of earth was re-used during the construction phase and the taxiway has been designed to capture de-icing fluids for recycling.

LLA's operations director, Neil Thompson, said: “This new taxiway will enable us to efficiently manage the ever-increasing number of aircraft that use the airport.

"The de-icing facility will also help us to and our airline partners to deliver punctual departures year round, whatever the weather.”