Work starts on new 861,000 sq ft taxiway at Manchester Airport

Above: Left to right – Andrew Cowan, Graham Mallett and Chris Scoffield

Work has started on a new taxiway at Manchester Airport.

The project, part of the airport’s £1bn transformation programme, will reconfigure the airfield to help feed the redeveloped Terminal 2.

Taxiway Delta Echo will span over 861,000 sq ft across its taxiway and apron and construction firm Galliford Try will pour more than 430,000 sq ft of concrete and install 16 miles of cabling when it delivers the works, under a contract secured in December.

Taxiway Delta Echo is due for completion by July 2020. It is expected to improve aircraft access to the new Terminal 2, cutting down on taxi times and fuel burned. The project will be the biggest change to the airfield since Runway 2 launched in 2001.

Manchester Airport CEO Andrew Cowan said: “It’s great to see the start of work for the reconfiguration of our taxiways, which will help to unlock the airfield capacity that will allow the airport to continue to grow.

“It’s another exciting milestone alongside the works already happening on the terminal building. Our airline customers will see taxi times reduced which will ultimately improve the experience for our 28m passengers.”