The photo also shows the maintenance work being carried on the runway. Photo / Auckland Airport
The photo also shows the maintenance work being carried on the runway. Photo / Auckland Airport
There was a time, pre Covid-19, when the only rare thing in this photo would be the double rainbow.
These days, with border restrictions all over the world, the sight of planes flying across the sky is almost as rare.
A photo shared by Auckland Airport on Twitter captured both.
Check out this beautiful photo! Just an airplane, a double rainbow🌈and our amazing runway maintenance project being delivered by #BrianPerryCivil! So far, we’ve poured 80 slabs of fresh concrete – 200 to go! Read more about the project here: https://t.co/9wfMEGQKYx 👷✈️ pic.twitter.com/DgiBcE5Pfk
According to the airport's Twitter account, 80 slabs of fresh concrete have been poured on the runway - but there are still another 200 to go.
With flight numbers still at a fraction of the normal, the airport decided to bring forward maintenance work it had to do on its runway.
The landing zone at the eastern end of the runway had deteriorated and chunks of it were breaking off, leading to temporary closures this year, alarming pilots, disrupting the travel plans of thousands and infuriating airlines.
The airport had budgeted and planned runway pavement replacement work but it was not due to start until the last quarter of this year.
The project will lay 12,000 tonnes of 500mm thick concrete to create the heavy industrial-grade pavement necessary to withstand landings of some of the heaviest and largest aircraft in the world, some with take-off weights of up to 500 tonnes.
The runway will be shortened by 1.1km during the 8- to 10-week construction period.
