SFO brings forward runway upgrade to take advantage of reduced traffic

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is moving forward a runway improvement project by two years to take advantage of the current reduced flight activity resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The gateway has decided to act now and complete the project in October 2020 instead of 2022 as originally planned as it believes that it will never get a better opportunity to carry out the work, which is in an area where multiple runways intersect.

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 SFO’s four runways for a period of eight days from October 8th to 15th 2020. All runways are expected to be reopened by Friday, October 16, 2020.

SFO notes that its airlines are currently planning to operate about 40% of the flights originally scheduled prior to the pandemic.

During the 8-day runway closures, Airport officials expect about 30% of all flights to experience delays, with most delays occurring on flights scheduled between 9:00am to 12:00 noon and 5:00pm to 8:00pm.

SFO recommends that travellers opt for early morning flights before 9:00am PDT during this period, as delays are expected to begin after 9:00am PDT each day during the closure.

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.