How Changi Airport keeps its runways safe

Potholes fixed, tyre deposits removed and runway grip tested, all in the dead of night

- Lee Nian Tjoe

Twice a week, a crew of 60 people and 20 vehicles rumble onto Changi Airport's Runway 1 in the dead of the night. The mission: to comb 4km of runway to make sure it is fit for aircraft take-offs and landings.

The frequency of maintenance depends on how heavily a runway is used. Only one runway is closed for maintenance, so there is still one runway in operation.

The maintenance team typically has between lam and 5am to do the work, which includes fixing potholes, scraping out rubber deposits left by aircraft, securing fixtures like lighting and signage that can come loose, and trimming the grass on the side of the runway.

Changi Airport handled 298,000 flights in the first 11 months of 2023, with the planes using either Runway 1 or 3.

Runway 2 was reopened on Dec 1, 2023, after it was closed in December 2020 for infrastructure work, taking over from Runway 3.

Eventually, all three runways will be operational as part of the airport's expansion plan, which includes building Terminal 5 to increase overall capacity.

The Straits Times followed Changi's maintenance team to Runway 1, which runs parallel to the Terminal 3 building, to find out how the runways are kept in good shape.

Getting to the runway access point involves taking a minibus on a private road that runs along the airport's perimeter. Being a controlled area, security is tight and runway access is coordinated with airport traffic control.

In addition to exchanging passes at the airport's security office, those entering the runway are issued location trackers at the office beside the access point. This is followed by a five-minute safety briefing before work begins.

As the other teams, like the 12 grass cutters, go about their tasks on different sections of the runway, a friction tester takes up position on one end.