Oxford airport in the UK has received Civil Aviation Authority approval to increase its usable runway length by 10% to 1,319m (4,325ft) for charter and public transport operations. This clears the way for the privately owned airport to step up its marketing efforts and establish itself as a key commercial business aviation airport in the UK.
Although privately licensed aircraft operators have used the runway's full 1,552m length, all commercial flights were restricted by the CAA to 1,200m due to the runway's 23m width, says Oxford Airport managing director Steve Jones.
"The runway extension will enable at least 15 more business jet types to use the field under public transport rules, notably the Cessna Citation CJ1, Bombardier Challenger 604, Global Express and Boeing Business Jet," says Jones. He adds: "Of the 25 or so current production business jet models, there are 17 that can now do charter operations into Oxford, while all can easily take off with trans-European range."
Meanwhile, the airport is planning to install an instrument landing system and widen the runway by 7m in the next two years.
Source: Flight International
