Alicante-Elche Airport: Sky-high swaps and midnight moves. Image: aena.
The Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport recently replaced a glass panel on the northwest side of its control tower.
The operation took place from 10:00 AM on March 5 until 4:00 AM the following day.
The glass panel, which is trapezoidal in shape and quite large (3.5m wide and 2.25m high), weighing 700 kg, had developed a crack on January 22.
Due to this issue, the replacement operation at a considerable height was planned and carried out.
Since the work required evacuating the control tower, the airport activated its emergency contingency plan and relocated the air traffic controllers to an alternative control tower.
This allowed the replacement operation to proceed smoothly.
To remove and install the new glass panel, two pieces of lifting equipment were utilised: a self-propelled manual crane with a maximum height of 57.7 m and a truck with an articulated arm and basket reaching up to 45.68m.
This marks the first time that such a glass replacement has been performed on the current control tower, which has been in service since 1995.
The replacement work was conducted at night to minimise disruption to airport operations.
Coordination with airlines and other stakeholders ensured that they could adjust their schedules accordingly.
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