Quote:
Originally Posted by waynechef
The biggest issue with SAT gaining a non-stop flight to Europe is that the airport doesn't have the runway length to accommodate the flight. The airports runways are both roughly 8500 feet long. A loaded plane flying across the Atlantic from central Texas is going to need 10,000 feet of runway length or more. Austin has a 12,500 foot runway. New Orleans has a 10,500 foot runway and has had non-stop service to London in the past. I think that the airports master plan calls for the runways to be lengthened to over 10,000 feet, but that is far into the future. Until the runways are long enough, SAT will not have non-stop service to Europe, period.
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Do you have data on a 787 or 747 to back this up? UPS and FedEX both fly wide bodies in as well. I flew on a fully loaded 757 into SAT from NY several years ago and it didn't seem to have any issues. Seeing as SA is actively seeking European routes, not sure they would be doing this without the correct runway lengths.