American To Suspend Flight Service At Tweed

American Airlines announced Thursday that it will suspend all flight service at Tweed New Haven Airport for a month this fall, as part of a broader cutback on routes to small airports during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The airline announced that service cut Thursday morning.

From October 7 through November 4, the commercial airline will be dropping all service to Tweed and to 14 other small airports across the country ​“as a result of low demand and the expiration of the air service requirements associated with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act,” the airline announced in a statement on its website.

“This is the first step as American continues to evaluate its network and plans for additional schedule changes in the coming weeks.”

American is the only commercial airline that currently serves Tweed, providing once-a-day flights to Philadelphia. Starting Sept. 9, it will provide once-a-day flights to Charlotte.

Tweed New Haven Airport Executive Director Sean Scanlon issued an email press release Thursday morning acknowledging the hard times airlines and small airports in particular are facing amidst pandemic-induced reductions in air travel.

“In this difficult and unprecedented time, airlines and airports across the country are facing enormous challenges,” he wrote. ​“We understand that American Airlines must suspend service for a month at Tweed New Haven and other airports across the country as they regroup in response to the global pandemic. The airport and the New Haven community greatly value our longstanding relationship with American Airlines and look forward to welcoming them back later in the fall.”

In a follow up email with the Independent, Scanlon recognized that American is indeed the only commercial carrier currently serving Tweed. He said ​“we expect to have them resume service this fall but we are also in serious talks with other carriers and are confident that once the industry recovers from Covid we will have several carriers operating out of Tweed and today’s announcement does not change that.”

Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for the Morris Cove airport to expand its runway in a bid to attract more service when it refused to hear the state attorney general’s appeal in a decade-long lawsuit about the runway.

Airport expansion supporters have long argued that a longer runway could attract more service providers and flights, including to Chicago or to Washington D.C.

Opponents have argued that a longer runway and increased service would mean louder jets and clogged streets for Morris Cove residents, as well as possible environmental dangers in a part of the city that is uniquely vulnerable to flooding.

The other cities hit by the American Airlines service cut include Del Rio, Texas; Dubuque, Iowa; Florence, South Carolina; Greenville, North Carolina; Huntington, West Virginia; Joplin, Missouri; Kalamazoo/Battle Creek, Michigan; Lake Charles, Louisiana; New Windsor, New York; Roswell, New Mexico; Sioux City, Iowa; Springfield, Illinois; Stillwater, Oklahoma; and Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

American was one of several airlines to benefit from a $25 billion bailout included in the $2.2 trillion CARES Act. That federal support required airlines to maintain minimum service levels through Sept. 30.