Airport officials confirm all three runways at the world’s fifth-busiest cargo hub are operational as investigators recover turbofan debris and analyse flight data
All three runways at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF) are now fully operational following the tragic MD-11 freighter crash earlier this week.
In an update, airport officials said that yesterday afternoon, Runway 17R/35L, or the West Runway, had returned to service following the incident on 4 November.
The airport’s executive director Dan Mann said: ”With this, all three runways at SDF are now available for use and the airfield is fully operational to aircraft.
“The SDF team continues to keep the victims, their families and our community in our hearts following this tragic incident.”
The airport returned runway 11/29 to service on the morning of 5 November, while runway 17L/35R (East Runway) was back up and running later that evening.
The airport is one of the busiest cargo hubs in the world because of its position as express giant UPS’ Worldport home base, handling around 350 incoming and outgoing flights per day.
Last year, the airport was the fifth busiest cargo hub in the world as volumes climbed 15% year on year to 3.2m tonnes.
UPS had halted operations at Worldport on Tuesday following the incident but restarted on Wednesday evening. The company warned customers of delays as a result.
The crash killed at least 12 people, including those on the ground and all three people aboard the MD-11F.
Those three people included the captain, first officer and a relief pilot, UPS confirmed. At least nine people are still unaccounted for, according to reports.
US investigators combing Louisville’s runways recovered “multiple” fan-blade pieces from the left GE Aerospace turbofan of the freighter.
The investigative team has also downloaded data from cockpit voice and flight-data recorders recovered from the wreck, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Todd Inman said on 6 November.
