New Master Plan Details Tweed Expansion

Move the airport terminal across the border into East Haven. Extend the main runway by 1,035 feet to allow for longer-distance flights.

Both of those proposals are included in Tweed-New Haven Airport’s new master plan, which is slated to be submitted to federal regulators later this month.

Tweed-New Haven Airport Authority Executive Director Sean Scanlon gave those updates Wednesday morning during the latest monthly city Development Commission meeting, which was held online via Zoom.

Scanlon gave the half-dozen city commissioners on the call a preview of a more detailed presentation he and an airport-hired consultant intend to give Wednesday night at 6 p.m. during an online community meeting focused on Tweed’s new proposed master plan. (Click here to read a PowerPoint presentation about the plan, and here for information on how to attend Wednesday night’s meeting.)

He said that the master plan — which federal regulators require airports across the country to put together every 10 to 15 years—maps out Tweed’s ​“ideal game plan” for how the Morris Cove regional airport would like to change and grow in the near future.

At the top of the list of recommendations is moving the airport’s current terminal from Burr Street in New Haven across the airfield to Proto Drive in East Haven, and extending the airport’s main runway from its current length of 5,600 feet to 6,635 feet.

The proposals included in the master plan are not a done deal, Scanlon stressed. They still have to be approved by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), and then by local and state environmental regulators, before the airport can start making moves.

Nevertheless, the master plan provides the most detailed look yet at how exactly Tweed plans to expand in the wake of a 2019 U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned a decade-old state law that limited the length of its main runway, and in the midst of an ongoing pandemic that has ground air travel to a near-halt.

“I think New Haven can be so much more successful if we have a more functioning airport with even a little bit more activity,” said Scanlon, who also represents Guilford and Branford in the state House of Representatives. ​“I took this job [as Tweed executive director] because I believe in New Haven. Because I love New Haven. Because Guilford and Branford can’t be successful if New Haven isn’t successful.”

Opponents to Tweed’s proposed expansion argue that a longer runway and more air traffic would result in a great disruption to Morris Cove residents’ quality of life and would present environmental dangers in a flood-prone part of the city.

“This master plan process is a kinder, gentler version of ignoring neighbors’ and taxpayers’ concerns,” Morris Cove resident Rachel Heerema said Wednesday morning in response to the news.

“Tweed leadership has stated that they need to expand for regional business interests and the ​‘business catchment area.’ But in the planning documents, the goals of expansion are all about more trips to Florida. I think everyone wants to go to Florida right about now! That’s no reason to increase New Haven’s debt burden, rip up the wetlands here in Connecticut, flood the roads with speeding traffic, or negatively impact people’s health with noise and air pollution. Enough is more than enough already.”

Heerema added that any money intended for Tweed’s expansion should instead go towards funding a loop shuttle from I‑91 in Hartford to Bradley International Airport. ​“That’s cheaper for everyone, quicker timetable, with lower environmental degradation.”

Terminal To Head To East Haven?

Scanlon said that the master plan development process started in September 2019, and has focused mainly on three key questions: Where should the terminal be placed? What should the runway length be? And what should happen with the airport’s secondary ​“crosswind” runway for smaller, private planes?

In regards to the first question, he said, the authority is recommending that the terminal be moved from its current location on Burr Street on the New Haven side of the airfield to Proto Drive on the East Haven side.

That would move the airport’s entrance from the residential neighborhood of Morris Cove into a more commercial district in East Haven.

He said New Haven neighbors frequently raise concerns about car traffic, especially whatever increase might be associated with more frequent flights, coming down Townsend Avenue and around the Cove. ​“We want to get that traffic out of the neighborhood and into a commercial neighborhood,” he said.

Development Commission Chair Anthony Sagnella (pictured) said that sounds like a good idea to him, as East Haven’s mayor and residents have generally been ​“more sanguine” about the airport than New Haven neighbors. Where exactly would the new terminal be located? he asked.

Scanlon said that there are two current runways at Tweed: the main runway, which goes north-south, and the crosswind runway, which goes east west. The new proposed site for the terminal would be at the north end of the crosswind runway.

“It’s off of Proto Drive in East Haven,” he said. Drivers would get off of Exit 52 on I‑95 onto Hemingway Avenue, and then turn onto Proto.

“This is just a best-case recommendation,” Scanlon said. ​“There is still miles and miles of stuff” that needs to be done before the terminal could be moved, including getting local approvals and local support, as well as getting East Haven to sign on to a community benefits package with Tweed.

If all goes as planned, Scanlon said, the airport intends to build the new terminal in 2024.

Longer Runway, More Flights?

As for the second question about runway length, Scanlon said the airport plans on extending the current main runway from 5,600 feet to 6,635 feet.

He said that one of the ​“biggest misconceptions” about a potentially longer runway at Tweed is that such a runway would mean bigger planes flying in and out of the regional airport.

That’s not the case, Scanlon said.

“It just means that planes can go further. This is by far our biggest problem at Tweed” in terms of expanding service.

“We want to be able to use the same kind of planes we have now to go further distances, so they can get to Florida, so they can get to Chicago, so they can get to DC, maybe to Atlanta.”

Currently, the only commercial flight running out of Tweed is run by American Airlines, which sends one 75-person plane per day to Philadelphia. Scanlon said that American used to run two or three flights per day to Philadelphia as well as a weekly flight to Charlotte, before the pandemic hit. But come Covid-19, the airline has dramatically scaled back its service as travelers largely stayed out of the air. Even as airport use continues to steadily climb again, he said, the daily flight to Philadelphia is still running at only around 20 percent of seats filled.

Scanlon said that expanding the main runway by 1,035 feet would keep the airport within its current boundary, and would not require any use of eminent domain.

“We don’t have to infringe upon any wetlands,” he said.

He also noted that the 6,635-foot main runway is just the airport authority’s proposal. The FAA could take a look at Tweed’s master plan and ultimately approve a number less than that.

He also said that, immediately after the airport authority submits its master plan — officially called an Airport Layout Plan — to the FAA on March 15, the authority will conduct an environmental assessment to get a detailed understanding of any potential environmental impacts of an expansion. (He said the master plan is primarily about safety and travel service.)

If the airport wins local, state, and federal sign-offs for its master plan and environmental assessment, he said, it would then build out the longer runway at the end of 2023.

“I think we’re going to take a big step in the right direction of what we’ve always wanted to do, which is to safely and responsibly expand and make sure that we’re good neighbors to the city,” he said.

Before the proposed runway expansion in 2023, Sagnella asked, would Tweed expect to see any kind of increase in commercial service?

“Every day mostly I am talking and in conversation with airlines interested in serving New Haven,” Scanlon said. ​“If we had a longer runway, we would have a lot of interest and activity here at the airport.”

Once Tweed officially, publicly declares that ​“we’re on the path” to expanding to 6,635 feet, he said, some airlines may seek to ​“get a toehold in the market” by bringing new service to New Haven in anticipation of the longer runway.

And as for the third question, Scanlon said that the airport intends to permanently close the crosswind runway.

Because the main runway has 95 percent wind coverage, meaning that 95 percent of the time a pilot can land on the main runway, the FAA has declined to pay for ​“necessary rehabilitation for the crosswind,” he said. That secondary runway hasn’t been used in over four years, he said. And so the airport is proposing to close it for good rather than invest its own money in fixing it up.

Scanlon said that closing the crosswind runway should have a salutary impact on noise disturbances in the area.

“The crosswind goes over much of the neighborhood in the Cove,” he said. Not only will closing that runway for good save taxpayer dollars, he said, it will also prevent further noise pollution in the residential area.

In the immediate future, Scanlon said, American Airlines should continue to offer its Philadelphia flights out of New Haven, thanks in part to the new $1.9 trillion federal American Rescue Plan. That federal pandemic-era legislation requires airlines that have gotten billions of dollars in federal bailout money to continue serving all existing markets. While American left Tweed for a month last fall after an initial round of federal funding lapsed, he said, they will be required to stay in place through at least Sept. 30 thanks to requirements included in the new legislation soon to head to President Biden’s desk.

“I’m pretty sure they’re going to stay beyond that, now that the virus is getting better,” Scanlon added.