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Dutch double offshore airport concepts

02 Oct 2008

Offshore airport proposals for overcrowded northern Europe are suddenly very much in the news. London Mayor Boris Johnson's proposal last month for an alternative to Heathrow on reclaimed land in the Thames Estuary has been matched by an even more striking concept from the Netherlands.
The Dutch proposal calls for a new airport some 20km off the coast, with floating and rotating runways.
The Dutch proposal calls for a new airport some 20km off the coast, with floating and rotating runways.

Consulting engineers and architects Royal Haskoning and dredging company Van Oord have offered innovative and feasible ideas for improving the safety of the Netherlands coastline, reducing the pressure on the populous Randstad area which includes Amsterdam and Rotterdam whilst making better use of the scarce land resources in their country.

The two organisations have been jointly studying the options for a large scale coastal extension and an airport in the North Sea. The plans are based on extensive knowledge and experience gained while designing and executing large scale land reclamation projects and artificial islands, including recent projects such as the Palm Islands and The World in Dubai.

The proposal includes a pioneering design for an international airport some 20km from the coast, featuring innovative floating and rotating runways. The airport could be operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week and would enable the Netherlands to further extend its position as the so called 'gateway to Europe' after 2025, when the current Schiphol Airport will have reached its maximum capacity.

Read the full story in the October issue of Maritime Journal.

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