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New Haven’s airport manager and mayor are doubling down on the future of local commercial air service in the week of American Airlines’ decision to stop flying in and out of Tweed.
American has decided not just to suspend (as previously announced), but to permanently end its American Eagle service between Tweed and Charlotte, N.C., as the Register’s Mark Zaretsky first reported in this story.
That leaves Tweed New Haven Airport with no commercial airline service.
But it didn’t cause any reexamination of the airport’s vision of enhanced daily commercial flights in and out of town, long a priority of the city’s business community.
While calling it “a disappointing day for our customers,” airport Executive Director Sean Scanlon vowed that “our best days are truly ahead.”
He stated that the airport is currently in “serious negotiations” with a carrier to launch “extensive service” beginning in the spring. And that plans are still in place to expand the runway to help make that happen.
“We’re obviously disappointed by American’s decision but I can’t say it’s that surprising given that the airline industry is facing the worst crisis in their history and the legacy carriers like American are in very difficult financial shape,” Scanlon told the Independent.
“In terms of our future, our plans are still the same as they were pre-pandemic: the demand for service in our area is definitely there but we haven’t been able to attract it because we need a longer runway to accommodate the kinds of planes airlines are using today. The law that limited our ability to increase the length and therefore attract new flights was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in March, but unfortunately that decision coincided with the start of Covid. We got dealt a bad hand timing wise but once the pandemic gets under control and people’s interest in flying increases, once there is a vaccine, I know we are going to see a lot of interest in Tweed now that the runway limitation is off the table.”
Mayor Justin Elicker called American’s departure “really more a corporate decision related to the pandemic.” He said the city is “confident in our recruitment of new service to serve the market.”