Runway lighting
Without lights your airport closes at dusk. Runway lighting keeps traffic moving after 21:00, opens the door to night mail and is required for the tower with radar.
What it does
Night lasts from 21:00 to 05:00. During those hours, take-offs and landings are only allowed on runways with lighting. Runway lighting is researched in the Airfield branch after the asphalt runway and is installed per runway; the cost depends on the runway length – about 80 € per metre.
Why you want it
- Night traffic. Late arrivals and early departures no longer have to be squeezed into daylight.
- Night mail. Mail contracts pay the full night rate only if the mail aircraft can land between 3:00 and 4:30. Without lighting you fly the morning mail instead, at a lower rate.
- Radar tower. The Tower with radar research requires both the control tower and runway lighting – and with it come two active runways and 24 movements per hour.
- Instrument landing. Together with long runways, lighting leads to Instrument landing in phase 4, which keeps approaches running in rain and bad weather.
Related lighting
Taxiway lighting (tier 3, after runway lighting) lets aircraft taxi at full speed at night; without it they crawl along at a reduced pace. It is not required for night flights, but busy evenings get much smoother with it.
The schedule check
The flight schedule check flags any planned movement at night on a runway without lights, so you can fix it before an aircraft ends up diverting.