Taxiways
Introduction
In the infrastructure of an airport, a taxiway, taxiway, taxiway or taxiway is one of the access routes from the terminals and hangar areas to the runway ("Taxiing (Aviation)")/taxi), and vice versa. Depending on the country, the terminology to refer to the same elements varies substantially and that is why it receives so many names. They are usually paved in asphalt or concrete, although smaller and less important airfields sometimes use gravel or grass.
Features
At airports with a lot of traffic, a runway is built parallel to the landing strip (known in some Latin American countries as "taxi runways"), in order to prevent both planes taking off and those landing from occupying the runway unnecessarily (in transit to the terminal after landing or to the head of the runway before takeoff). That is, with a "taxi runway" the planes, after landing, can leave the runway as soon as they slow down and circulate to the terminal outside the runway, allowing other airplanes to use the runway at those times. This allows increasing the capacity (total number of operations) that can be achieved with the track. To further improve runway capacity, rapid runway exits (towards the taxiway) are often constructed to allow aircraft to exit the runway toward the taxiway at higher speeds. This makes it easier for the plane to vacate the runway more quickly, allowing others to land in a shorter space of time. If the aerodrome does not have a taxiway parallel to the landing strip, the latter will require widening at its edges so that airplanes can turn around.
Signaling
For night operations, taxiways are generally lined with blue lights, to distinguish them from the white lights of a landing strip. Although in larger airports, the general trend is to replace, for energy saving reasons, blue beacons with reflective ones and add green beacons on the center line.[1].
References
- [1] ↑ El aeropuerto de Zaragoza estrenará en marzo el sistema electrónico para aterrizar con niebla.: https://www.heraldo.es/noticias/aragon/zaragoza/2016/01/20/el-aeropuerto-de-zaragoza-estrenara-en-marzo-el-sistema-electronico-para-aterrizar-con-niebla-410701.html