{"id":23630,"date":"2017-11-22T08:45:27","date_gmt":"2017-11-22T07:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/?p=23630"},"modified":"2025-12-12T00:41:04","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T23:41:04","slug":"circular-airports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/2017\/11\/circular-airports\/","title":{"rendered":"Circular airports: A new proposal for the airports of the future"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the beginning of 2017, was featured in the news that the\u00a0Netherlands Aerospace Centre<\/a>, with funding from the European Commission, was carrying out research on the design of a circular airport<\/strong>, or The Endless Runway<\/em> as it is called, with the aim that it could become a reality towards the decade of 2040.<\/p>\n

This type of airport, on which Dutch scientist Henk Hesselink has been working for years, is an attempt to put an end to one of the great fears of the pilots: crosswinds. Circular airports would allow aircraft to land against the wind regardless of the direction in which it was blowing. However, there are still many questions to be answered: such as how the curved trajectory of the runway affects control of the aircraft at low speeds on the ground, how it affects take-off and landing distances, or how the wear of the tires is affected as this would imply higher maintenance costs for airlines, amongst others. Flight simulators are currently being used to test this new model and trials with drones are expected in the coming years.<\/p>\n

This airport runway model would also have an impact on actual airport design, with terminals, hangars and other airport facilities moving to the centre, the take-off and landing runway will run around the perimeter. This is perhaps the area where more work is still needed: \u00a0to find and develop an infrastructure which, in addition to adjusting to the runway design, is asefficient as some of today\u2019 airports; the central access area also needs to be designed \u00a0in order to be safe and efficient.<\/p>\n

How does a circular runway solve the problem of crosswinds?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When landing and taking off, a plane is better off doing so against a headwind which will help sustain it in the air. An excessively strong crosswind can result in runway closure (with the subsequent financial losses and inconvenience for passengers). In other cases, when crosswinds are borderline in strength, landing will require significant expertise from the pilots.<\/p>\n

If instead of a straight runway there is a large 360\u00ba circular runway to choose from, you will theoretically be able to land against the wind whatever direction it\u2019s blowing in<\/strong>. All directions are taking into account in in a circular shape, so it will always be possible to land against the wind.<\/p>\n

Hans Hesselink was inspired by turbulent landings on videos such as this<\/a> to develop his circular runway.<\/p>\n