Versneld-onderhoud-op-landingsterrein,
19
May
2020
|
09:45
Europe/Amsterdam

Accelerated maintenance on landing area

Schiphol’s landing area is relatively quiet, with only around 200 take-offs and landings taking place per day. That situation offers a great opportunity to the maintenance team. They are now speeding up to perform various works on the runways and around the piers. 

Extra maintenance on the taxiway 
Maintenance is a lot harder to plan when there is a lot of runway activity. It is a meticulous operation for which plans are made well in advance. Schiphol wants to reduce any impact to the flight schedule as much as practicable, so a lot of works were planned for overnight. However, now works can continue during the day and into the night. One of the additional activities will begin at the end of May, followed by maintenance on the lane over which aircraft taxis to the Buitenveldertbaan Runway.

Less noise disturbance for local residents 
The extra works have been combined with the regular maintenance on the Buitenveldertbaan Runway that was scheduled earlier. Therefore, this runway cannot be used for takeoffs and landings for four weeks. This is quite a long time, but we expect it to have very limited impact on the Runway use due to the decrease in air traffic. The vast majority of planes use the Polderbaan Runway or the Kaagbaan Runway. If there’s a strong wind in the south-west to west direction the Oostbaan Runway will be used. This runway can only be used for planes that take off in a north-easterly or land from that direction.

We normally perform this maintenance in phases when it is busy, but we can now do it all at once. The biggest advantage is that the Buitenverdertbaan Runway will no longer need to be repaved when a regular flight schedule resumes later this year. This reduces noise disturbance for local residents.

Re-painting the lines 
You have a good view of the platform and your plane when you are standing at the gate to check-in. Quite a few platforms are currently under construction. The parked, heavy aircraft can cause cracks or subsidence in the large concrete tiles (which are 5x5-metres wide). The lines will also be repainted where necessary.

Cars with cameras across the runways 
Work has also already been done on runway maintenance, which was scheduled to happen later. You need to know what needs to be done where before runway maintenance begins. We have already prepared for that. Cars with cameras have driven over the runways and mapped them out. In doing so, we will know exactly which lamps will have to be replaced or where the cracks in the asphalt are located.