One of the busiest international airports located in Eindhoven, Netherlands, has announced that it will be temporarily halting operations.
This is mainly due to the airport authorities wanting to significantly improve its services and operations in the near future.
Consequently, they have devised a plan to undergo substantial renovations at the runway, as well as the Eindhoven Air Base.
However, this decision is going to halt operations at the airport for no less than five months, which has worried the relevant authorities in the travel and tourism sector.
The new plan
As per the announcement, this new project is going to kick off sometime in February 2027 and end in June later the same year.
The overall renovations of the runway and the Air Base are believed to take around 22 weeks to be fully completed and ready to go.
However, various stakeholders in the travel industry have taken to cite their concerns regarding this announcement and, ultimately, the project.
Leaders in the industry are worried that the temporary closure of the Eindhoven Airport could cause significant flight cancellations of up to 17,000.
As a result of these disruptions, more than 3 million passengers would have to make alternative arrangements and use other airports in the Netherlands for travel purposes.
A spokesperson for ANVR, a travel association in the country, added that it is no secret that Eindhoven is a key airport in the sector.
The spokesperson further stated that the airport facilitates around 6.9 million passengers on a yearly basis and 10% of overall air transport in the country.
In the 22-week closure, the spokesperson explained, a wide range of flights would have to be transferred to various other airports, leading to a hassle.
Eindhoven Airport
As of now, the airport authorities have not revealed an official kick-off date for the renovations, nor has the Ministry of Defense.
The Ministry of Defense owns the airport but has not made any statement regarding its plans to temporarily close it.
However, the announcement has caused much frenzy, and interested contractors are already scrambling to register for the tender of the project, for which the deadline is the end of February.
Soon after the month ends, the government will be choosing around six candidates to complete its tender.
Renovations
As per the relevant authorities of the Eindhoven Airport, the work to be undertaken includes drainage, lighting, as well as new cabling.
The plan will also upgrade the Instrument Landing System (ILS) of the airport from Category 1 to Category 3.
Consequently, it will make room for pilots to conduct precision landings with little or no visibility in situations where the weather is poor or there is thick fog.
As per a report, an improvement of this kind is going to cost no less than €10 million, and millions of passengers will have to choose other airports for their travel arrangements.
Data obtained from World Data info revealed that Eindhoven Airport is best known for being the second busiest airport in the Netherlands.
