Runway Numbering

Runways are numbered according to the magnetic heading flown on takeoff and departure, divided by 10 and rounded off. So in our case the heading towards the west is 278 degrees magnetic so the runways are numbered 28 and in the other direction, 098 degrees, they’re numbered 10. When there are parallel runways as we now have at Dublin they get L and R for, you guessed it, Left and Right. When headed the other direction the same pieces of concrete are now technically considered to be different runways: 10L and 10R.

The paved structure is referred to by the numbering of both directions. The north runway is 10L-28R and the crosswind runway in Dublin which is used very rarely and only when the wind is blowing too strongly from the north or south for planes to land on the main runways is 16-34.