Sydney Airport invests in runway safety

Sydney Airport has completed a A$26 million runway resurfacing project and now has a $25 million stop bar lights project underway.

To minimise disruption to airline operations, such projects are undertaken during the curfew hours of 2300 and 0500.

The resurfacing was an essential safety project and involved major maintenance work on the main north-south runway, the east-west runway and some taxiways, including:

* removal of airfield ground lighting

* removal and milling of the top layers of asphalt on the existing runway

* reinstatement of new asphalt

* reinstatement of airfield ground lighting and line marking

The installation of stop bar lights at the taxiway entries to the three Sydney Airport runways is a safety initiative aimed at preventing aircraft from inadvertently entering a runway without clearance.

The use of stop bars requires a pilot to stop and hold short of the red stop bar lights, only proceeding onto the runway when ATC gives a verbal instruction and switches off the red lights at the same time as turning on the interlocked runway lead-in lights.

Construction of the stop bar lights is scheduled to be completed mid next year.