Busiest airports without full length taxiways

BENAir01 · Tue May 22, 2018 2:02 pm

I was scrolling through Wikipedia and found that Malta airport carried over 6,000,000 passengers last year, however MLA does not have full length taxiways, and as such requires backtracking followed by a 180 in the runway before takeoff or after landing.
LTN had almost 16,000,000 pax yet also doesn’t have full length taxiways, although the backtracking required at LTN is less than that at MLA.
Any other relatively large airports tha require backtracking? Does anyone know what the biggest one is?

User001 · Tue May 22, 2018 2:07 pm

While not quite as busy, Leeds Bradford (LBA) and Funchal Madeira (FNC) require backtracking for full length runway usage.

Andy33 · Tue May 22, 2018 2:10 pm

London City (LCY) has 4.5 million passengers a year and no full length taxiways.

airtrantpa · Tue May 22, 2018 2:30 pm

SXM doesnt have taxiways

AVL as well, well maybe once the new runwayis completed

george77300 · Tue May 22, 2018 2:38 pm

Florence carried 2.5million and that has virtually no taxiways. Full backtrack required on landing.

Newbiepilot · Tue May 22, 2018 2:42 pm

Male has no taxiway at all. Airplanes pushback onto the runway. Probably one of the only airports in the world that has multiple widebodies on the ground at the same time and no taxiways

winGl3t · Tue May 22, 2018 2:51 pm

I guess Porto, Portugal (OPO), must be on TOP 3: +10,7 million passengers in 2017.

Quite a few busy airports in Brazil too:

Porto Alegre, Brazil (POA): +8 million passengers
Curitiba, Brazil (CWB): +7,2 million passengers
Fortaleza, Brazil (FOR): +5,7 million passengers
Florianópolis, Brazil (FLN): +3,8 million
Belém, Brazil (BEL): +3,2 million

FatCat · Tue May 22, 2018 2:53 pm

george77300 wrote:
Florence carried 2.5million and that has virtually no taxiways. Full backtrack required on landing.

And on takeoff too, as planes should take off heading southbound; northbound departures are possible, but with restictions on weight.
Last time on the flight to FRA we had to disembark 8 passangers to take off northbound. Plane was an Air Dolomiti E195.
Northbound takeoffs are a thrill, as wet landings are.

NZ321 · Tue May 22, 2018 3:13 pm

WLG New Zealand was around 6M+-

ZaphodHarkonnen · Tue May 22, 2018 3:17 pm

NZ321 wrote:
WLG New Zealand was around 6M+-

Pretty sure WLG has a full length taxiway. https://www.google.co.nz/maps/@-41.3276 ... a=!3m1!1e3

FlyHappy · Tue May 22, 2018 3:22 pm

Newbiepilot wrote:
Male has no taxiway at all. Airplanes pushback onto the runway. Probably one of the only airports in the world that has multiple widebodies on the ground at the same time and no taxiways

ha! ya made me look!
that's not an airport, its an airstrip with some "stuff" nearby

but somehow perfect for the ocean paradise feel.

rbavfan · Tue May 22, 2018 3:42 pm

FlyHappy wrote:
Newbiepilot wrote:
Male has no taxiway at all. Airplanes pushback onto the runway. Probably one of the only airports in the world that has multiple widebodies on the ground at the same time and no taxiways

ha! ya made me look!
that's not an airport, its an airstrip with some "stuff" nearby

but somehow perfect for the ocean paradise feel.

Arial views in Google earth show reclaimed land being done opposite side of current terminal with plenty of space to do a real terminal.

rbrunner · Tue May 22, 2018 3:51 pm

[quote="winGl3t"]I guess Porto, Portugal (OPO), must be on TOP 3: +10,7 million passengers in 2017.

Absolutely. The taxiway only goes about halfway down the runway. Quite a bummer when the airport is operating in LVO and rwy 17 is the active rwy...

Thibault973 · Tue May 22, 2018 5:07 pm

winGl3t wrote:
I guess Porto, Portugal (OPO), must be on TOP 3: +10,7 million passengers in 2017.

Quite a few busy airports in Brazil too:

Porto Alegre, Brazil (POA): +8 million passengers
Curitiba, Brazil (CWB): +7,2 million passengers
Fortaleza, Brazil (FOR): +5,7 million passengers
Florianópolis, Brazil (FLN): +3,8 million
Belém, Brazil (BEL): +3,2 million

FOR does have a full length taxiway, POA an almost full length one, as for FLN, one of its 2 runways does have a full length taxiway

Rafabozzolla · Tue May 22, 2018 5:58 pm

Lisbon deserves a special mention. At nearly 27M pax in 2017 it does have a full length taxiway, but each part on a different side of the runway. To reach the treshold of runway 21 planes must cross it.

BoeingGuy · Tue May 22, 2018 6:36 pm

KTM doesn’t have full length taxiways either. Domestic prop planes do a mid field takeoff from where the taxiway ends. Jets enter the runway at that point and back taxi to the end.

Virtual737 · Tue May 22, 2018 6:37 pm

PNH / VDPP Phnom Penh requires backtracking for both ends for takeoff.4.3 million passengers last year.

gwrudolph · Tue May 22, 2018 6:42 pm

Does OGG or is it really just the apron connected at the ends to the runway? Seems to me that I was there once and we had to taxi to cargo area to wait for a gateand it got very messy trying to get back to the gate because we were going against pushback traffic on the apron

airbazar · Tue May 22, 2018 7:08 pm

Rafabozzolla wrote:
Lisbon deserves a special mention. At nearly 27M pax in 2017 it does have a full length taxiway, but each part on a different side of the runway. To reach the treshold of runway 21 planes must cross it.

I'm pretty sure those are different taxiways so LIS definitely counts.

zrs70 · Tue May 22, 2018 7:33 pm

Gibraltar comes to mind.

Kadish · Tue May 22, 2018 7:37 pm

Lanzarote if I’m not wrong

BENAir01 · Tue May 22, 2018 10:41 pm

Kadish wrote:
Lanzarote if I’m not wrong

Except you are wrong

Not to be rude haha. But yes, ACE does have full length taxiways.

BENAir01 · Tue May 22, 2018 10:42 pm

airbazar wrote:
Rafabozzolla wrote:
Lisbon deserves a special mention. At nearly 27M pax in 2017 it does have a full length taxiway, but each part on a different side of the runway. To reach the treshold of runway 21 planes must cross it.

I'm pretty sure those are different taxiways so LIS definitely counts.

I wouldn't count it. Yes, you do have to cross the runway, but you dint have to backtrack or back taxi so Id say its good.

noviorbis77 · Tue May 22, 2018 10:47 pm

Islamabad Airport (Benazir Bhutto).

The runway is the taxiway.

A350OZ · Tue May 22, 2018 10:48 pm

Rafabozzolla wrote:
Lisbon deserves a special mention. At nearly 27M pax in 2017 it does have a full length taxiway, but each part on a different side of the runway. To reach the treshold of runway 21 planes must cross it.

Canberra (CBR) is the same, but I wouldn't count this as no backtracking on an active runway is required.

Downunder, CNS (5.2m pax, #7 in Australia) and ZQN (2m pax, #4 in NZ) would be the largest that qualify in those countries.

Q · Tue May 22, 2018 10:49 pm

An old airport Islamabad is closed now and moving to new airport Islamabad has better runways and taxiways than previous. Just few weeks ago opened.

Q

Q · Tue May 22, 2018 10:51 pm

There is a little bit no taxiways in Burbank end of runway 26. It has apron ramp connect runway 8-26.

Q

77H · Tue May 22, 2018 11:20 pm

gwrudolph wrote:
Does OGG or is it really just the apron connected at the ends to the runway? Seems to me that I was there once and we had to taxi to cargo area to wait for a gateand it got very messy trying to get back to the gate because we were going against pushback traffic on the apron

OGG has a full length taxiway for runway 2/20. Runway 5/23 doesn't have a continuous taxiway along its length but it possible to operate from either end of the runway without back-taxiing.
As far as your experience waiting for a gate at the cargo ramp and having to wait this makes sense as Taxiway A would be the only way back to the main terminal ramp. You'd be going against the flow of departing traffic. In order to expedite movement you would have had to go on to the runway and exit a taxiway prior to the terminal complex. The main runway is used for departures and arrivals so ATC may not have had time to slot in a runway taxi which tends to occur at slower speeds. That being said, the terminal ramp is wide enough to allow a WB to taxi freely on A with another WB fully pushed back off a gate. Have experienced this twice now there. I'd imagine they do not allow taxiing on the the ramp in the opposite direction of traffic.

77H

zakuivcustom · Tue May 22, 2018 11:45 pm

BENAir01 wrote:
airbazar wrote:
Rafabozzolla wrote:
Lisbon deserves a special mention. At nearly 27M pax in 2017 it does have a full length taxiway, but each part on a different side of the runway. To reach the treshold of runway 21 planes must cross it.

I'm pretty sure those are different taxiways so LIS definitely counts.

I wouldn't count it. Yes, you do have to cross the runway, but you dint have to backtrack or back taxi so Id say its good.

For LIS there's also Runway 17/35 that has a full-length taxiway, which would eliminate it from an "airports without full length taxiway".

Another busy airport that doesn't have full taxiway is HKT (Phuket, Thailand), at 16M pax. Don't have to backtrack for 09 but has to backtrack for 27.

Samrnpage · Wed May 23, 2018 12:25 am

I think IKA Airport has a half length taxiway - around 10million pax a year

Kadish · Wed May 23, 2018 3:30 am

BENAir01 wrote:
Kadish wrote:
Lanzarote if I’m not wrong

Except you are wrong
Not to be rude haha. But yes, ACE does have full length taxiways.

Must be in another canary island...I remember flying there a long time ago n there was no taxiway

ggflyboy · Wed May 23, 2018 4:08 am

PLS - 30+ ops per day, no taxiway. They do get wide bodies. More of that island feel.

SAN should be an honorable mention. Something tells me that the 747 couldn’t squeeze down Bravo when BA flew it in. Not sure what the actual constraint is, if any.

HNL · Wed May 23, 2018 4:36 am

Nadi Airport in Fiji (NAN) which handles about 2 million passengers a year.

777PHX · Wed May 23, 2018 4:54 am

Cairns, OZ doesn't have full length taxiways.

pdp · Wed May 23, 2018 5:35 am

Lublin - whilst having less than 500k passengers a year - has zero taxiways. No seriously, there's a short run from the ramp to the middle of the runway and that's it! Makes the middle of the day interesting if two flights are close together.

Luton has to be up there in terms of movements, the largest aircraft it can take realistically are 752s/A321s, and there's frequently a queue 5 or 6 deep at the runway before you count the aircraft sat on the ramp ready to go, but with no room.

Luton was recently found to be the most delayed airport in the UK, surely part of it is that fact is due to having to backtrack on the already very short runway!

armadillomaster · Wed May 23, 2018 7:45 am

Leeds Bradford (LBA-EGNM) has 4million+ passengers. Both ends require a taxi and a turning loop or full 180 depending on which end.

c933103 · Wed May 23, 2018 8:03 am

Narita airport with 40 million passengers every year?

lugie · Wed May 23, 2018 10:24 am

Kadish wrote:
BENAir01 wrote:
Kadish wrote:
Lanzarote if I’m not wrong

Except you are wrong
Not to be rude haha. But yes, ACE does have full length taxiways.

Must be in another canary island...I remember flying there a long time ago n there was no taxiway

Well neither GMZ (La Gomera), VDE (Valverde -> El Hierro) nor SPC (Santa Cruz de La Palma) have full length taxiways but GMZ and VDE would probably not qualify as "busy" airports.

SPC handled 1.3 million passengers in 2017 so while it's the largest airport without a full length taxiway in the Canaries it's most definitely not a contender for the overall first spot.

BENAir01 · Wed May 23, 2018 10:43 am

c933103 wrote:
Narita airport with 40 million passengers every year?

Since when does Narita require backtracking?

mast2407 · Wed May 23, 2018 11:48 am

Cork, EICK, 2.3m in 2017. Backtracking required for half the runway.

KlausU · Wed May 23, 2018 12:13 pm

Phuket, VTSP with almost 13m PAX in 2015 has no full length taxiway either.

AndrewJM70 · Wed May 23, 2018 12:27 pm

I found it very odd that Luton have invested cash in building remaining taxiways but have not taken them quite to the ends of the runways. This doesn't seem to make much sense.

mackdad · Wed May 23, 2018 3:30 pm

CGH Congonhas Airport very busy without a full runway.

gwrudolph · Wed May 23, 2018 3:54 pm

77H wrote:
gwrudolph wrote:
Does OGG or is it really just the apron connected at the ends to the runway? Seems to me that I was there once and we had to taxi to cargo area to wait for a gateand it got very messy trying to get back to the gate because we were going against pushback traffic on the apron

OGG has a full length taxiway for runway 2/20. Runway 5/23 doesn't have a continuous taxiway along its length but it possible to operate from either end of the runway without back-taxiing.
As far as your experience waiting for a gate at the cargo ramp and having to wait this makes sense as Taxiway A would be the only way back to the main terminal ramp. You'd be going against the flow of departing traffic. In order to expedite movement you would have had to go on to the runway and exit a taxiway prior to the terminal complex. The main runway is used for departures and arrivals so ATC may not have had time to slot in a runway taxi which tends to occur at slower speeds. That being said, the terminal ramp is wide enough to allow a WB to taxi freely on A with another WB fully pushed back off a gate. Have experienced this twice now there. I'd imagine they do not allow taxiing on the the ramp in the opposite direction of traffic.

77H

Makes sense

GolfBravoRomeo · Wed May 23, 2018 4:38 pm

Is LCY still scheduled to get a full length taxiway? IIRC there was talk of that.

aemoreira1981 · Wed May 23, 2018 4:51 pm

noviorbis77 wrote:
Islamabad Airport (Benazir Bhutto).

The runway is the taxiway.

No longer open to civilian traffic as of May 1.

Cunard · Wed May 23, 2018 5:51 pm

AndrewJM70 wrote:
I found it very odd that Luton have invested cash in building remaining taxiways but have not taken them quite to the ends of the runways. This doesn't seem to make much sense.

Recent press statements made by the management at Luton Airport have suggested that the taxiways will eventually be extended at both ends of the runway with work hopefully commencing in Q419.

Cunard · Wed May 23, 2018 5:54 pm

Andy33 wrote:
London City (LCY) has 4.5 million passengers a year and no full length taxiways.

With the planned expansion which has just started at LCY the current taxiway will eventually be extended full length to the runway.

evank516 · Wed May 23, 2018 6:59 pm

I would say CZM but it looks like it handles less than a million pax per year.

BENAir01 · Wed May 23, 2018 7:52 pm

mackdad wrote:
CGH Congonhas Airport very busy without a full runway.

Not sure what a full runway in, bit CGH does not require backtracking.

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