Analysis of wind data for airport runway design

Purpose: To provide a methodology, and examples of application, for analyzing wind data for the correct orientation of airport runways. Design/methodology/approach: More than 90000 observed wind data have been analyzed for each one of the three airports used as case studies. Both observed and estimated gusts have been considered. Findings: If only observed data are considered, each single runway of the three airports used as case studies is correctly oriented. When estimated gusts are considered, the FAA requirements are not satisfied by a single runway in some airports (which anyway satisfy such requirements by using more runways). Practical implications: The correct orientation of runways minimize the crosswind components, then increase the safety of the airports. Originality/value: The paper provides a methodology to evaluate the orientation of existing runways and to design new runways. Such methodology is based on the analysis wind data, considering both observed values and estimated gusts.