Originally Posted by
Xyzzy
Some of the RPA proposed changes for EWR are quite interesting. The most radical (and the one with the bests picture) calls for the demolition of a good chunk of the existing terminals and the addition of a third main runway, 5/23:
Wow.
Do they really gain anything with that new (proposed) runway ?
Just by eyeballing it, I'd say the proposed 5/23 is not far enough away from 4R/22L to allow for simultaneous ILS approaches (I'm assuming 4L/22R would be primarily for departures).
Without simultaneous ILS Approaches, the new runway would make EWR like SFO ... traffic situation not too terribly bad (notice: I didn't say "good") on clear days, but when visibility and/or low clouds require instrument approaches, capacity goes down (another) 50% as only one runway can have an active approach at any given time (you can stagger the approaches but that really doesn't gain much).
So the benefit for this proposed runway looks to be very low (contrast to IAH/DFW/DTW where the newest runways were built waayyy out from the next parallel runway). Combined with relocating half the terminal (and to where
), my armchair cost analysis just can't see this happening.