Air traffic at Eindhoven Airport suffered due to this morning’s dense fog. It is the eighth time this has happened in two months. Poor visibility leads to considerable delays in departing and incoming flights.
Flights scheduled to depart at 07:00 were all delayed until at least 09:45. Passengers flying from Eindhoven to Alicante had to wait even longer with departure planned for around noon. Flights that would have landed at Eindhoven Airport this morning were also delayed. The first plane was expected to arrive at around 10:00.
The airport allowed passengers of the affected flights to boards their plans, waiting for visibility improves. This would assist in quick take off.
Eindhoven Airport has had to suspend air traffic eight times already in the last two months. Required visibility for an aircraft to take off or land at this airport is 550 metres. At Schiphol Airport, visibility is required for up to only 75 metres.
In Eindhoven, air traffic is therefore disrupted when there much lighter fog. This is mainly due to technical reasons. The airport itself is not necessarily more sensitive to fog than, for example, Schiphol or Rotterdam-The Hague Airport.
Technical improvements
Aircraft could land in conditions with far lower visibility at Eindhoven Airport if its runways technical systems were improved. This specifically concerns an Instrument Landing System (ILS). Since the airport is a military one, the runway is owned by the Dutch Ministry of Defence. Eindhoven Airport, therefore, cannot merely install equipment at its own expense.
Another problem is that it is mainly budget airlines that fly to Eindhoven Airport. They do not have the most advanced equipment on their planes. As a result, they are not allowed to land at Schiphol Airport when the visibility is 75 meters there, even though that airport has much better runway equipment.
So, until technical improvements are put in place, it seems that a little fog will continue to cause a lot of problems at Eindhoven Airport.
Source: www.studio040.nl
Translator: Chaitali Sengupta, who gives Inburgering classes in Meerhoven. Click here for more info.
