San Francisco Airport to undertake runway improvement project

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) has announced plans to advance a future runway improvement project, originally slated for 2022, to be undertaken in October 2020. The project, which will upgrade an area where multiple runways intersect, is being completed nearly two years ahead of schedule to take advantage of the current reduced flight activity resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The project will repave a section of Runway 28R, where it intersects with two other runways, 1L and 1R. This will require the closure of two of San Francisco Airport’s four runways for a period of eight days, from 8 October to 15 October 2020. All runways are expected to be reopened by 16 October 2020.

San Francisco Airport officials chose to advance this construction project to this current period of reduced flight activity, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to reduce the extent of delays and cancellations caused by the runway closures. During this fall period, airlines are currently planning to operate about 40 per cent of the flights originally scheduled prior to the pandemic.

During the eight-day runway closures, airport officials expect that roughly 30 per cent of all flights will experience delays, with most delays occurring on flights scheduled between 9:00 to 12:00 and 17:00 to 20:00. Both arriving and departing flights are expected to be affected during these periods.

The contract for the Runway 28R Rehabilitation Phase 1 project was awarded to Golden Gate Constructors. The total project cost is expected to be $10 million.