The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has terminated parallel visual approach operations at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). Previously, on runways where parallel instrument approaches were not possible under ICAO rules, aircraft were required to perform visual landings under tower instructions and were directed to runways in sequence due to heavy traffic.
Under the FAA’s new decision, only one runway will be utilized at a time, and it is anticipated that this runway will likely operate using precision approach procedures such as ILS (Instrument Landing System).
SFO officials stated that the new implementation could increase flight delays. While previously approximately 15% of flights were expected to experience delays due to runway projects, it is now estimated that about 25% of arriving aircraft could face delays of at least 30 minutes following this change.
