The airport’s Operations Director Steve Szalay and Head of Planning and Development Steve Thurston were joined on the airfield by Paul Holmes, Member of Parliament for Eastleigh and Councillor Keith House, Leader of Eastleigh Borough Council. Together with James Hindes, Managing Director of VolkerFitzpatrick, the contractor for the runway, they broke ground on the extension site.
Eastleigh Borough Council approved the extension in April 2021, the 164m extension to the northern end of Southampton’s runway will allow the airport to host bigger aircraft and potentially attract new airlines to offer new routes and opportunities.
The airport advised that work will be carried out mostly at night to avoid any travel disruption to the current flight schedule and they hope the works will be finished by the middle of August.