Valerius International Airport

Valerius International Airport is located in Parkes, New Anglia, 27 kilometers from the Valerius city centre.

History

The airport began life as a military airfield for the Halandra Special Defence Force in the 1940s before being handed over to Halandra Airports in 1955.

The airport served as a general aviation facility until 1964 when the planning department of Halandra Airports announced that the airfield would be developed into the main international airport for Halandra. What followed was an intense bureaucratic battle between the prefectural governments of Valerius and New Anglia for jurisdiction over the airfield.

The Parkes Municipal Government waged a pitched fight on the behalf of its citizens to keep an international airport out of it's "backyard," but the High Court of Halandra voted in favour of Halandra Airports on the grounds that the airport was "federal lands" and therefore not subject to the Parkes Municipal Government, in spite of claims that the environmental footprint created by an international hub would extend far beyond the boundaries of the airport itself.

Terminal One as well as the airport rail station opened in 1970. The modernist structures were designed by Halandrian architect Haruko Yamamoto of the firm Gallyot and Shin.

As a result of noise and safety concerns, the descent and approach follows a circuitous route before the final approach.

Current Operations.

Terminals

The airport has three terminals, two domestic and one international. The total airport facilities are capable of handling 51 million passengers per year.

Runways

Following the completion of a facilities expansion in 2003, the airport has three parallel runways, two measuring 3800 metres in length and 60 feet in width to handle the next generation of jumbo jets as well as a third conventional runway measuring 2900 metres in length. All runways posess a Category IIIA approach, allowing aircraft to land in only 200 metres of visibility.

Stands

There are 78 gates, 14 remote stands, and 35 cargo stands.

Accidents and Incidents

On 17 January 1974 a Halandra Air Service 707 suffered an engine fire three minutes after take-off. The aircraft shed the engine, which crashed into the waters of the Valerius outer harbour, narrowly missing a small fishing boat. The aircraft was able to turn around and make an emergency landing. The aircraft burned on the ground, killing four passengers and one flight attendant.

On 26 July 1976, an AeroHalandra DC-10 en-route from Sophia to Valerius crashed into the Stuyver Highlands 90 km. north of Valerius after a cargo door blowout led to sudden loss of cabin pressure and a hydraulic failure. All 274 passengers and crew died.