Keep the long runway

Preserve this asset for future airport growth

The Federal Aviation Administration has panned a proposal to close the longest runway at Pittsburgh International Airport because of safety concerns. But apart from the safety concerns, the runway should be preserved in case future aviation needs require it.

The message to the Allegheny County Airport Authority is clear: Don’t close the longest runway.

A new airport master plan calls for closing the current landside terminal and building a new one, right alongside the airside terminal. In short, no more tram ride for passengers. As officials describe it, the reconfigured airport would deliver more with less space. The master plan, developed by the consulting firm Ricondo, also proposed eliminating one runway. Authority CEO Christina Cassotis says there’s no need for four, and county Executive Rich Fitzgerald agrees that four is excessive, noting that London’s Heathrow Airport, which handled 78 million passengers last year, manages with two.

Hence the proposal to close runway 10 Right/28 Left, the airport’s longest at 11,500 feet. The airport would save about $2 million annually in maintenance and operating costs by closing the runway, which is in worse shape than the other three, while airlines would save about $2.1 million a year in taxiing costs.

In a letter, however, the FAA threw cold water on the plan because of what it termed “very significant safety and efficiency concerns.” While the letter did not elaborate on the safety issues, there’s speculation that closing 10 Right/28 Left would put aircraft too close to one another as they jockey for takeoffs and landings elsewhere on the property.

That’s exactly the kind of issue the FAA should monitor. The authority should defer to the agency’s judgment and halt the proposal to close 10 Right/28 Left.

But safety isn’t the only issue. Nobody can predict aviation needs, such as aircraft size or the length of runways needed to accommodate them. Some research suggests that rising temperatures associated with climate change will require planes to attain higher speeds during takeoff, translating into a need for longer runways. For all these reasons, it makes little sense for the airport to close its longest runway.

A runway of 11,500 feet isn’t all that long, either, considering JFK Airport in New York has one that’s 12,079 feet and another that’s 14,511 feet. Denver International, which claims “one of the most efficient runway layouts in the nation,” has five runways of 12,000 feet and one of 16,000 feet that’s described as the longest serving commercial traffic in North America. “Because of Denver’s high elevation and summer heat, this extra length often is needed for departures,” the airport says on its website.

Ms. Cassotis suggested that safety concerns about closing 10 Right/28 Left could be obviated with other traffic flow changes, but she said the jury is out on closing that or any other runway — and she said the authority, like the FAA, makes safety its top concern.

Under Ms. Cassotis, the authority has seen an increase in the number of flights and airlines using the airport. That growth is expected to continue, and Ms. Cassotis believes a reconfigured airport will both facilitate and leverage it. The airport’s longest runway should be part of the longrange plan. It would be shortsighted to get rid of an asset that might pay dividends in the decades ahead.