How airfield lighting supports air traffic passenger growth
While this growth creates significant economic opportunities, it also introduces operational challenges. Airports and airlines must scale quickly—without compromising safety, efficiency, or regulatory compliance. One of the most critical yet often overlooked enablers of this growth is airfield lighting infrastructure.
Heathrow and the reality of capacity pressure
Major international hubs such as Heathrow illustrate the scale of this challenge. As one of the busiest airports in the world, Heathrow has consistently reported high passenger volumes (almost 84 million passengers in 2024, an increase of 5.9% from the 2023) and long-term capacity constraints.
Continued growth means:
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Larger aircraft with wider wingspans
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Increased flight frequency
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Tighter turnaround schedules
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Enhanced safety requirements
These factors put pressure not only on terminals and runways but also on supporting systems like airfield lighting, which are essential for maintaining safe, continuous operations.
The role of airfield lighting in modern airports
Airfield lighting systems play a key role in both safety and operational efficiency for airports. They provide critical guidance for aircraft during:
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Take-off and landing
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Taxiing across complex airfields
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Operations in low visibility conditions (fog, rain, night-time)
These systems help airlines stay on schedule enabling aircrafts to land in weather conditions that would otherwise cause delays and diversions. Playing such a crucial role in safe and efficient airport operations, it’s vital that they receive optimal power through both primary and secondary circuit airfield lighting cables.
Supporting infrastructure upgrades with specialist expertise
As a company, we are recognised for providing expert technical support in this field which makes us the preferred supplier to many large EPCM companies around the world, working from the design stage providing assistance with technical specification, through to the supply and delivery of the cables and cable accessories themselves – often against tight timeframes.
Managing complex airport projects
It might seem like a small cog in the machine, but securing airfield lighting can increase the overall performance of the airport, affecting everything from scheduling to safety.
Delivering cable solutions in such environments means:-
Working within tight timelines
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Coordinating multiple cable types and specifications
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Maintaining strict security compliance
For example, when working with the British Airports Authority, we were able to deliver a cable solution for ground power units and airfield lighting against a challenging and precise delivery schedule to accommodate the project’s logistical requirements. Ensuring the co-ordinated supply of a wide range of cables, on a just-in-time basis to mitigate onsite storage and security risks, can be a logistical Rubix Cube, yet our customers are assured that whatever the project challenge we are committed to delivering on schedule.
Global experience and compliance assurance
Other projects further afield, such as our work on Namibe International Airport in Angola or the Dubai World Central Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai, may require additional customs processes to expedite import, or use The Cable Lab®, our in-house cable testing lab holding ISO17025 UKAS accreditation, to provide impartial assessment over-and-above our normal rigorous QA processes to demonstrate compliance with all relevant national and industry standards. Others may require a customised cable owing to particular installation or application challenges – something our technical experts can design and have manufactured.
Enabling future airport growth
As global connectivity continues to expand, the importance of dependable infrastructure—including the cables that powers essential systems—cannot be underestimated.
“Our extensive experience working with airports, garnered over a number of years on projects around the world, helps airport build and expansion projects achieve their safety and efficiency goals. With more airports needing to secure their passenger growth in the future, Eland Cables is uniquely positioned to be able to assist with design and specification to ensure the right standards for safety and compliance are met” says Jean-Sébastien Pelland, Director of Eland Cables. “Our experience shows us to be a valuable partner to quality conscious organisations in heavily regulated and time-constrained industries and we’re excited to be involved in further airport expansion projects.”
As passenger demands continue to expand and evolve, airfield lighting will always be an important element to the safe and efficient operations for both airports and airlines - and Eland Cables will be ready to play its role in supporting passenger growth.
