The east wing begins to take shape
The East Wing is the largest project in Isavia's history, according to Guðmundur Daði Rúnarsson, Director of Business and Development at Isavia. A detailed review of the East Wing appeared in Morgunblaðið last Sunday, October 15.
Guðmundur says that the east wing is Isavia's biggest project, whether in terms of funds or square meters. For example, the building is about four thousand square meters larger than the original northern building.
The initial cost estimate assumed that the east wing would cost ISK 21.8 billion in current value. Now the final cost is expected to be 22-23 billion.
At the east wing, a stairwell is being poured for the expected gangway. Guðmundur Daði says that from each stairwell there will be two fingers out into two planes. By doing so, it is possible to extend the walkway to the airplanes and thus start check-in earlier and ensure a more even flow of passengers. Check-in is traditionally the biggest bottleneck at airports, so the stairwells increase efficiency. Then it will be possible to have either two normal planes or one wide-body jet at the stairwells, which is also an improvement.
Guðmundur Daði also draws attention to the fact that construction work worth 3.5 billion ISK is currently underway at the airport. Including building a new fuel system on (see picture at the bottom of the page).
"The reason why planes are delayed at Keflavík Airport is often that many engines need to be serviced at once and tankers with fuel need to be driven between them. With the new system, it will be possible to pump fuel directly from the pipes and into the planes," says Guðmundur Daði in the Morgunblaðið article, which can be read here in Icelandic.