New Seattle Airport runway 'a significant success'

The Port of Seattle has described the opening of a new runway at Seattle-Tacoma Airport as "a significant success" for the city.

Officially unveiled yesterday (November 23rd), the new runway is expected to cut delays at Seattle Tacoma Airport from an average of ten minutes to 2.5 minutes.

John Creighton, Port of Seattle commission president, said that the runway will also offer environmental and financial benefits.

"The runway is expected to save five million gallons of fuel for airlines and over 50,000 tons of greenhouse gases per year," he said.

"Most importantly, it will reduce delays and save millions of dollars for airlines as well as time for passengers."

The runway, which was designed to last 40 years, is expected to cut arrival delays during times of low-visibility weather, as the two older runways are too close together to handle two streams of traffic in those conditions.

This month has also seen the US aviation industry boosted by new runways at Washington Dulles and Chicago O'Hare airports, which was welcomed by the Airports Council International North America.

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