Dundee Airport: it’s more than the runway

Sir, – In response to the letter from Mcmcarthur of St Andrews, “Dundee Airport could be based in Fife” (January 24), there is a common belief that simply lengthening the runway would solve all the issues at Dundee Airport.

In reality, the runway imposes threedimensional burdens on the land and airspace around it that stretch for miles in all directions, and get dramatically bigger as the runway gets bigger. If you can meet those criteria, the bigger aircraft then get a lot heavier, so your runway has to get thicker, and the large aircraft need higher fire and rescue categories which means more and larger vehicles, more water and foam, and more staff on shifts.

The bigger runway and aircraft then mean bigger terminal buildings, more terminal staff, more security, bigger car parks more commercial rates etc.

Airports are expensive to create and operate, and it is very difficult to get income to offset these costs. Nearly all the airlines (and most notoriously the low-cost airlines – Easyjet and Ryanair) that you hope would pay the additional costs of a bigger airport are the most uncompromising. In fact they will want to use any airport free, almost!

Thus a regional airport operator that doesn’t want to lose a fortune needs to have an airport that is just big enough for what it needs to do in relation to the daily and weekly market. The CAA publishes five-yearly surveys of the points of origin and destination within the UK of all travellers on scheduled services.

Runway length is not a restriction that outweighs the market accessibility benefits of the Riverside location though – London City Airport handles around 3.3 million passengers annually, yet its runway is smaller and far more technically restricted in 3D terms than Dundee, and its overall airport site is smaller.

What Dundee airport sells is time. A comparable flight in Edinburgh would include an additional hour just to clear security.

Obviously for some its worth the trouble if you are saving £100 on the cost of the flight.

Personally, my time is more important.

Ryan Mcguigan. The Lodge, Taypark House, Perth Road, Dundee.

A Flybe flight leaving Dundee Airport for Amsterdam in 2016. A correspondent argues there’s more to the debate about improving the service at the airport than just lengthening the runway.