New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Tweed airport seeing a revival
NEW HAVEN — Tweed-New Haven Regional Airport straddles New Haven and East Haven, and has had its share of ups and downs over the years. Some nearby residents and officials see it as an asset, while others consider it a burden. With new services starting recently, the small airport is busier than it has been in a while, and there are more changes on the horizon.
Here are five things you need to know about Tweed:
1. It’s home to Avelo Airlines
Tweed has been in the news lately, particularly since Avelo Airlines, a new, low-cost startup airline, announced last May that it would make Tweed its first East Coast base of operations and begin flying later in the year.
Avelo, the only commercial airline currently serving Tweed, which uses the booking symbol HVN, has since added flights to six Florida destinations — Orlando, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Fort Myers and Sarasota-Bradenton — using three jets that are currently based there.
Last week, Avelo announced plans to add flights beginning in May to four more other destinations: Nashville, Tenn.; Savannah, Ga.-Hilton Head, S.C.; Charleston, S.C.; and Myrtle Beach, S.C.
All of the flights are on full-size Boeing Next-Generation 737-700 jets.
Avelo Chairman and CEO Andrew Levy has said that three additional 737-700s will be delivered to be based at Tweed over the coming months, and more destinations soon will be added. He would not say which destinations the airline plans to announce.
In its first 100 days serving Tweed, Avelo hired 109 people and spurred more than $20 million in local economic impact, with additional destinations coming soon, Levy has said.
During the next few months, the airline plans to double both the
size of its fleet in New Haven — to six airplanes — and the amount of local people it employs to more than 200, as it adds several new routes, he said.
During Avelo’s first three months of service, it flew nearly 70,000 customers on nearly 600 flights to and from New Haven, Levy has said.
2. There’s a proposed expansion under way
Tweed also has been in the news because of a proposed $70 million$100 million expansion project. The project would involve lengthening the usable portion of the runway for takeoffs by more than 1,000 feet, from 5,600 feet to 6,635 feet, by paving portions of the existing, unpaved runway safety areas.
It also would involve building a new terminal on the East Haven side of the airport and moving the airport’s entrance to that side to provide access via Hemingway Avenue, which is a largely-commercial state road.
The approach to Tweed currently is on New Haven city streets, largely along Townsend Avenue, and runs almost entire through
residential neighborhoods after people exit Interstate 95.
Tweed’s longtime operator, Avports LLC, owned by a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs, would finance an initial $70 million expansion under a 43-year airport lease agreement with the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority which the Board of Alders unanimously approved in September, which opens the door for airport expansion.
But while Tweed is busier than it has been in years, much still needs to happen — and not everyone in the neighborhood is on board.
3. After many years of spotty service, service is growing
When it comes to commercial flights, Tweed is busier now than it has been in decades — but it still is not as busy as it was as recently as the mid-1990s.
As recently as 1996, Tweed was served by four airlines, with United flying full-size 737 jets to Chicago, United Express flying turboprops to Washington Dulles Airport, US Airways Express flying turpoprops to Philadephia and Continental Express flying turboprops to Newark.
The Tweed New Haven Airport Authority was formed to enable the city to move quicker to rebuild the airport’s service after United, United Express and Continental Express all pulled out, leaving US Air Express, which later became part of American Airlines’ network after American and US Airways merged.
For years after US Air stopped flying into Reagan National Airport following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Tweed offered service to just one destination: Philadelphia International Airport, although there were shortlived additions of service. Most notable was a period when Delta Connection flew from New Haven to Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport from 200406.
More recently, American Eagle flew between Tweed and both Philadelphia and Charlotte, N.C., before the coronavirus pandemic ultimately spelled the end of American’s service. It ceased all flights in October 2020, then resumed flights to Philadelphia in January 2021 after receiving federal CARES Act funding, then suspended service to New Haven at the end of September 2021.
4. Tweed’s planned growth is not a done deal
Asked at Feb. 11 press conference to celebrate Avelo’s first 100 days of service, Tweed New Haven Airport Authority Executive Director Sean Scanlon said that nothing will be finalized — and no applications will be filed — until the current environmental assessment being done on improvements recommended in Tweed’s 20-year master plan update is completed.
He hopes to see that happen by this summer.
The proposed runway extension, the proposed new 70,000square-foot terminal and any new entrance all would require approvals Tweed has yet to seek, including from the East Haven Planning and Zoning Commission and Inland Wetlands Agency and the state Department of Environmental Protection, as well as the Federal Aviation Administration.
Scanlon also said the airport authority’s new agreement with Avports, which would extend Avport’s contract to manage the airport and map out how its relationship with the city and the authority for the next four decades, also is still being negotiated.
Last year’s Board of Alders approval was done with the understanding that the Avports agreement still would have to be worked out. Scanlon said it’s important to get it right.
5. Some neighbors oppose the expansion
At every public meeting, and many of the press conference the airport holds, residents opposed to further expansion — or in some cases to any additional service — attend.
Residents, including members of a Stop Tweed Expansion Facebook group and an environmental and opposition group called 10,000 Hawks, complain about noise, traffic, occasional flooding, aircraft exhaust and other quality of life issues.
Opponents also have raised questions about how climate change and associated sea level rise might affect the airport — which is located close to Long Island Sound and borders tidal wetlands. Some experts have suggested that those are valid questions.
In recent weeks, some neighbors have photographed and filmed Avelo flights taking off and landing to show how low they sometimes fly and how loud they can be.
Others have taken to posting details of when commercial flights take off and land so others can watch for them and monitor when they arrive late — and even measured sound threshold levels using apps on their smart phones.