Two major European airports reopen runways; more to follow?

While many airports have closed altogether during the coronavirus pandemic, the larger ones have taken to shutting down individual terminals and runways, which have often been used as parking areas in the past three months.

One sign of an improvement in the situation is the reopening of runways at some of Europe's biggest hubs, which also means that the aircraft that have been parked on them will have to find a new home - preferably in the air.

On 24-Jun-2020 Amsterdam Schiphol Airport announced plans to reopen runway 18L-36R for commercial air traffic from 06-Jul-2020, and Frankfurt Airport's Northwest Runway (07L/25R) will go back into operation on Wednesday, 08-Jul-2020.

Frankfurt Airport has been ready to step up flight operations since mid May. Frankfurt's airport operator Fraport has implemented extensive anti-infection measures in the areas currently in use in Terminal 1, in line with all health authorities' regulations.

France ended its overall lockdown more than a month ago, and internal travel within France has now resumed. Spain, very heavily reliant on international tourism, has now reopened its borders, with a series of 'air bridges' being opened with selected countries to allow two-way travel without the need for quarantine.