Cornwall Airport Newquay (NQY, EGHQ) has 1 runway: 12/30. It serves Newquay, United Kingdom. Below you can see the latest wind and weather report, how that wind lines up with every runway end, and what the layout means for how the airport works.
Headings are true (not magnetic), so they differ from the runway number by the local magnetic variation.
| Runway | Length | Width | True headings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 / 30 | 2,744 m (9,003 ft) | 45 m | 121° / 301° |
Aircraft take off and land into the wind whenever they can. A headwind slows the ground speed at touchdown, shortens the runway needed and gives better control. A tailwind does the opposite, so airports normally limit it to a few knots. A crosswind (wind across the runway) is harder on the pilots, and large jets have a limit on how much they can accept.
Each runway has two ends, numbered by compass heading divided by ten, so 27 points west and 09 points east. The same strip of tarmac is used in either direction depending on the wind, and parallel runways add L, C and R (left, centre, right) to tell them apart.
Cornwall Airport Newquay has one runway, 12/30, running south-east to north-west. At about 9,000 ft (2.7 km) it is far longer than a regional airport with a handful of routes needs. The reason is history: the airport shares its site with RAF St Mawgan, a military airfield built in 1940, and the runway was laid out for heavy aircraft. That length is why the airport was chosen as Spaceport Cornwall, and in January 2023 a modified Boeing 747 took off from it carrying Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne rocket on the UK's first orbital launch attempt, which did not reach orbit. Cornwall is exposed to the Atlantic, with winds often from the west or south-west, so the single runway sees a lot of crosswind on windy days.
Newquay Airport has only one runway, so the question is which way it is being used. AeroGaze can't see air traffic control's plan. It shows the latest wind from the EGHQ METAR set against both ends of the runway: aircraft take off and land into the wind where they can, so the end with the stronger headwind is the likely one. Traffic and the forecast also play a part, so treat it as a guide, not a fact.
Cornwall Airport Newquay has 1 runway: 12/30.
Runway 12/30, at 2,744 m (9,003 ft) long and 45 m wide.
There is no single limit. Each aircraft type has a demonstrated crosswind figure, commonly in the range of 30 to 40 knots for large jets, airlines set their own limits (often lower on wet or contaminated runways), and the pilots decide on the day. When a strong wind blows across the runways at Newquay Airport, you see more go-arounds and diversions.
From the METAR reports that NOAA's Aviation Weather Center publishes for EGHQ, refreshed about every ten minutes. A METAR is usually issued once an hour, and sooner if conditions change, so the observation time on the page shows how fresh the report is.
They are flight categories based on cloud height and visibility. VFR: cloud base above 3,000 ft and visibility over 5 miles. MVFR (marginal): 1,000 to 3,000 ft or 3 to 5 miles. IFR: 500 to 1,000 ft or 1 to 3 miles. LIFR: below 500 ft or under 1 mile. The lower the category, the more spacing between aircraft and the more delays.
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Sources: wind and weather from the NOAA Aviation Weather Center (METAR). Runway coordinates from OurAirports (public domain); runway notes are editorial. AeroGaze is an independent site, not affiliated with any airport or air traffic service.