Prague-Ruzyně Airport completes main runway overhaul, flights to resume Friday

Václav Havel Airport Prague has completed the modernisation of its main runway, and planes are set to return to it as early as Friday around 3:00 PM — barring any unforeseen issues, according to airfield infrastructure development manager Miroslav Harvát.

According to the airport, fourteen projects were carried out in-house, with three more completed by external partners, including Pražská plynárenská and the state enterprise Air Navigation Services of the Czech Republic. Final inspections of the runway's condition, along with testing and calibration of radio navigation equipment, are now underway — these will form the basis for the final operating clearance.

What a billion crowns bought

Investment in this year's projects exceeded 1 billion crowns, compared to roughly 750 million last year. According to Jakub Aubrecht, the airport's manager for transport structures and areas, the scope and complexity of work in the second phase turned out to be greater than in the first.

All runway lighting was replaced — around six hundred lamps were switched from halogen to LED. Several hundred information signs underwent the same upgrade. In addition, new cable ducts totalling 3.3 kilometres were laid along the runway. Fencing was also replaced, and taxiway intersections were reconstructed and widened: 55,000 square metres of surface were repaired, while the area of reinforced zones grew by 8,000 square metres.

The main runway itself required only minor maintenance — such as replacing the silicone joint sealants between concrete slabs. It last underwent a major reconstruction back in 2012–2013. The runway measures 3.7 kilometres in length and 60 metres in width, and its grooved concrete surface ensures better water drainage and braking for aircraft.

Suburban residents can breathe easier

According to airport spokesperson Denisa Hejtmánková, around 500 flights will pass through Ruzyně over the summer season. While runway 06/24 was closed, these flights were rerouted to the auxiliary runway 12/30, whose flight paths pass over densely populated areas of Prague and the Central Bohemian Region. Now, after 4.5 months, residents of these areas will finally get some relief.

"We're carrying out the closure during the busiest part of the season, since the auxiliary runway isn't equipped for takeoffs and landings in poor visibility, such as fog," the airport spokesperson explained. Summer is when fog is least frequent.

Equipping the auxiliary runway with the technology needed for flights in foggy conditions would cost tens of millions of crowns. In the future, the airport plans to close it altogether and build a parallel runway that won't affect densely populated areas during future runway system reconstructions.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz