16,000 x 200 Feet -- Reckon You Can Hit That?

Denver International Airport officially opened runway 16R/34L for regular flight operations on Thursday. The first operation on the new runway was a United Airlines 777 departure, flight 244 to Chicago at 10:38 a.m. local time.

The runway was built at a cost of approximately $166 million dollars with the Federal Aviation Administration's using direct taxpayer monies for 74% of the project. The new runway came in on-time and on-budget.

The new runway is 16,000 feet long and 200 feet wide, making it the largest commercial runway in North America. It is also 4,000 feet longer than any of DEN's other runways. This extra distance will give fully-loaded jumbo jets additional length to take off in Denver's altitude during summer months, thereby providing unrestricted global access for any airline using DEN. The new runway will also be able to accommodate the new generation of massive airliners, including the Airbus A-380. 500 ultralights could land simultaneously, across it, with plenty of room between wingtips.

The sixth runway is a north/south runway in the northwest part of the airfield and will enhance DEN's already nationally-renowned airfield efficiency. In bad weather situations, DEN will still be able to land three aircraft simultaneously on its existing north/south runways while using the new runway for departures.

During normal weather conditions, aircraft will be able to depart using the two north/south runways on the west side of the airfield and arrive using the two north/south runways on the east side of the airfield. This makes for short aircraft taxis and quicker turnarounds. DEN's cost benefit analysis of the runway estimates the new runway will save the national aviation system more than $1 billion over the life of the runway.

DEN also has the added luxury of having space for an additional six runways on its 34,000 acres of land. At full build-out, DEN would have a total of 12 runways.

FMI: www.flydenver.com