Tweed Airport expansion moves forward with hiring of company for EA
Environmental assessment is a requirement that must be carried out before the Federal Aviation Administration approves proposed plans to lengthen the airport runway from 5,600 feet to 6,635 feet and construct a new terminal where the eastern end of the old Tweed crosswind runway now sits.
At a press conference on May 6, Tweed and his longtime manager, Avports, announced that Avports will invest $ 100 million over the next 43 years, including $ 70 million over the next two years to fund the runway extension and a new four-door terminal (expandable to six), with a new entrance to the airport off Proto Drive in East Haven. As part of the agreement, Avports will lease ownership of the terminal for this period.
At the same press conference, they announced that a new start-up airline, Avelo Air, will begin service to and from Tweed in the third quarter of this year, with destinations yet to be announced.
The extension of the runway would be achieved by coating already constructed runway safety zones at each end of the runway.
The Tweed New Haven Airport Authority, by what appeared to be a unanimous vote, authorized executive director Sean Scanlon on Wednesday to negotiate a contract with McFarland Johnson, based in Binghamton, New York.
McFarland Johnson was ranked first among two consultants who responded to Tweed’s request for qualifications, according to the resolution approved by the authority.
The price, refundable by the FAA, is one of the things to be negotiated, Scanlon, also representative of the Democratic state of Guilford and Branford and chairman of the House of Finance, Income and Bonds said Thursday.
A lawyer representing Tweed, Peter Kirsch, said the resolution he approved on Wednesday is the first of a number of resolutions that will be submitted to the authority in the coming months regarding the changes it announced on May 6.
Environmental assessment “is a federal and state process that we must follow … in order to secure state funding.” Scanlon will now “negotiate a price and a range of services,” he said.
“The cost is part of the overall package that we talked about at the last meeting … in which Avports provides a loan that will be largely repaid by the FAA,†Kirsch said.
Tweed’s only service at this time is the American Eagle 5-day-a-week service to Philadelphia. Currently, only Americans pledge to stay at Tweed until September.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s dismissal of the state’s request to review an appeal of a July 2019 federal court decision gave Tweed the right to expand.
The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruling paved the way for runway extension on the grounds that federal policy replaced a 2009 state law prohibiting runway extension. The statute was adopted following a legal settlement between New Haven and East Haven.