#HTE

Dutch Concept for Circular Airport Runways

The Aero-Loop was designer Thor Yi Chun’s proposal for an airport with banked, circular runways. The idea was that it would take up much less space than an airport with conventional runways.

Thor’s proposal was for a design competition some years ago and the idea was never seriously pursued. But now Henk Hesselink, an aviation expert of the Netherlands Aerospace Centre, has proposed a similar concept called the Endless Runway.

Hesselink reckons that with a circular runway, planes can always land in a headwind, altering their point of touchdown depending on which direction the wind is traveling. And in calm conditions, the runway could conceivably be used, he claims, by three airplanes simultaneously. Here’s how it would look and operate: