Tweed New Haven Regional Airport

Tweed New Haven Regional Airport
Overview of HVN as of 2010.
IATA: HVN – ICAO: KHVN – FAA LID: HVN HVN Location of the Airport in Connecticut
Summary
Airport type		Public
Owner		City of New Haven
Operator		Tweed New Haven Airport Authority
Serves		New York metro area
Location		New Haven, Connecticut and East Haven, Connecticut
Elevation AMSL		14 ft / 4 m
Coordinates		41°15′50″N 072°53′12″W / 41.26389°N 72.88667°W / 41.26389; -72.88667
Website		www.flytweed.com
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
2/20	5,600	1,707	Asphalt
14/32	3,626	1,105	Asphalt
Statistics (2006)
Aircraft operations			41,231
Based aircraft			72
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

Tweed New Haven Regional Airport (IATA: HVN, ICAO: KHVN, FAA LID: HVN), formerly known as Tweed-New Haven Airport, is a public airport located three miles (5 km) southeast of the central business district of New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Tweed New Haven Regional Airport is currently owned by the City of New Haven.^[1] The airport property is located within New Haven and the town of East Haven. It is one of two airports in Connecticut with air carrier service, the other being Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks.

History

Tweed New Haven airfield from the north (Dodge Avenue).

Tweed was dedicated on August 29, 1931, as the New Haven Municipal Airport. It was renamed Tweed in 1961 in honor of John H. Tweed, its first airport manager. Air service was provided by American Airlines, beginning service in the 1930s, and later by Allegheny Airlines.

1970s and 1980s

In the 1970s and 1980s the "major carriers" left New Haven to focus service at larger airports. Regional or "commuter" carriers grew to fill the gaps left by major airlines. Fixed Base Operator "New Haven Airways" started providing scheduled air service to fill the void, and became New Haven's home town airline, NewAir.^[2] The airline operated flights to New York's JFK and LaGuardia Airports, Philadelphia, Baltimore/Washington International, and Washington National Airports, using Twin Otters, EMB-110s, and Shorts-360s.

Competing for New Haven's air travelers was Groton/New London based Pilgrim Airlines,^[3] also operating flights to New York/JFK and LaGuardia, as well as Boston, using Twin Otters and F-27 aircraft. By the mid 1980s, the two competing Connecticut based airlines merged together, and then was purchased by Hartford based Business Express Airlines, which was initially flying only from Brainard Airport to Boston and Philadelphia.

In 1987, Hyannis MA based Provincetown-Boston Airlines (PBA), which operated as a commuter airline for Peoplexpress Airlines and then Continental Airlines, began service at New Haven. PBA operated flights from Tweed to Continental's hub at Newark International Airport, as well as Hyannis and Nantucket MA, using EMB-110 aircraft.

US Air Express also provided service to Philadelphia and Washington DC.

In the 1990s, new jet service was added from New Haven to Chicago-O'Hare, initially using Air Wisconsin's BAE-146 aircraft as a "United Express" carrier. Soon after, United replaced the Air Wisconsin service with its own 737 aircraft. The service was short lived, with United likely realizing that the service only competed with its own service from Hartford's Bradley International Airport. Continental Express service continued, and was upgraded to Beech-1900 and ATR-42 aircraft; while Business Express flights upgraded to Saab-340 and Beech-1900s.

By the late 1990s, Business Express service ended, as it put its Saab-340s out of service, after is acquisition by AMR Corporation. Continental Express service ended for a while in the 1990s, then came back, and then left again by the late 1990s.

The airport was also served by Comair, a Delta Connection carrier that offered service to and from Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport. This service was discontinued in January 2006.

Pan Am Clipper Connection, which was operated by Boston-Maine Airways, began non-stop service to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Hanscom Field, and Pease International Airport on March 8, 2007 using 19 seat Jetstream 31 aircraft. Service was discontinued on 30 July 2007.^[4]

This then left the US Air Express service as the lone survivor of scheduled air service at Tweed.

Present day

US Airways Express, which formerly flew from New Haven to both Philadelphia and Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., now is the only passenger airline that offers daily flights in and out of Tweed New Haven to Philadelphia. The airport is also popular with both private aircraft and companies providing flights for tourists who want to view the Connecticut shoreline from the air.

During major events at Yale University, the general aviation ramp is often crowded with private jets - during the 1997 commencement, the corporate jets of Coca Cola and Procter & Gamble were parked nose to nose on the tarmac. The airport also gets heavy use during the annual New Haven Open at Yale tennis tournament.

Today the airport is operated by AvPorts of Teterboro, New Jersey, under contract by the Tweed-New Haven Airport Authority.

Public transit to the airport is available on Connecticut Transit's "G" route.

The future of the airport has been the subject of disagreement between the City of New Haven and the Town of East Haven. New Haven has advocated airport runway expansion, which would be required to attract more commercial air service and larger planes. However, many East Haven residents have been opposed, alleging that expansion would negatively affect the mostly residential neighborhoods surrounding the airport.

In 2007, the Federal Aviation Administration and the State of Connecticut approved the proposed addition of safety overruns to Tweed's main runway. The City of New Haven issued the necessary wetlands and building permits for the project. However, officials in the town of East Haven voted to reject the upgrade proposal and deny permits for work on the East Haven (North) side; the Airport Authority and the City of New Haven filed a lawsuit against the Town of East Haven to allow for work to proceed on the north overrun and won.

Since the lawsuit, The Airport Authority has completed the necessary work for the $25 million safety overruns on the New Haven (south) side of the airport, as well as the East Haven (north) side.^[5]

On March 16, 2009, the New Haven and East Haven announced that an agreement had been reached, keeping the main runway at 5,600 feet, with all obstructions in the approach zones to be removed. Departures are to be capped at 30 per day, with a passenger cap of 180,000 boardings per year.^{[citation needed]}

Facilities and aircraft

Tweed-New Haven Airport covers an area of 394 acres (159 ha) which contains two asphalt paved runways: 2/20 measuring 5,600 x 150 ft (1,707 x 46 m) and 14/32 measuring 3,626 x 100 ft (1,105 x 30 m).^[1] During the 1990s, United Airlines service included Boeing 737s operating on the longer runway. In order to obtain take-off speed with these jets on full flights, it was not uncommon for passengers and/or luggage to be offloaded to reduce weight, or for the pilots to wait on the runway for a favorable wind.

For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2009, the airport had 41,231 aircraft operations, an average of 113 per day: 91% general aviation, <1% air taxi, 2% military, and 7% scheduled commercial. There are 72 aircraft based at this airport: 86% single engine, 7% multi-engine and 7% jet aircraft.^[1]

FAA diagram of HVN

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
US Airways Express operated by Piedmont Airlines	Philadelphia

Incidents

1 March 1958

A Convair CV-240-O operated by American Airlines with eight passengers destined for Bridgeport Airport crashed on the runway after the landing gear was retracted before the aircraft had lifted off. The plane landed on its belly and a small engine fire occurred. There were no injuries.

7 June 1971

A Convair CV-580 operated by Allegheny Airlines with 30 passengers arriving from Groton-New London Airport crashed, striking cottages located 4,890 feet (1,490 m) from the runway. Twenty-eight occupants died. It was determined that pilot error was the cause.^[6]

7 January 2011

A Bombardier Dash 8-100, operating as Piedmont Airlines flight 4507 from Philadelphia International Airport to New Haven was struck by lightning over the Long Island Sound. The captain reported electrical problems and diverted safely to Long Island Macarthur Airport due to more favorable weather conditions. The aircraft had 33 passengers aboard who were then bussed to New Haven.

See also

• Hartford-Brainard Airport (HFD)
• Westover Metropolitan Airport (CEF) - Previously marketed by Skybus Airlines as "Hartford (Chicopee, MA)", however due to the collapse of Skybus Airlines in April 2008, the passenger terminal is currently empty.
• Bradley International Airport (BDL)

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} FAA Airport Master Record for HVN (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2007-07-05
2. ^ "NewAir - New Haven Airways". Airline Timetable Images. 3 November 2006. http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/nb.htm. Retrieved 12 October 2011. 
3. ^ "Pilgrim Airlines". AirTimes. 8 February 2009. http://www.airtimes.com/cgat/usc/pilgrim.htm. Retrieved 12 October 2011. 
4. ^ "Pan Am ending flights at Tweed" Cara Baruzzi, New Haven Register, 21 July 2007.
5. ^ Zapana, Victor (2008-04-23). "Tweed renovations could take off even though East Haven remains opposed". Yale Daily News. http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/24636. Retrieved 2008-05-06. ^{[dead link]}
6. ^ http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19710607-0

External links

• Tweed New Haven Regional Airport (official website)
• President Kennedy at Tweed New Haven Airport

• FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective 20 October 2011
• Resources for this airport:
  • AirNav airport information for KHVN
  • ASN accident history for HVN
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart for KHVN
  • FAA current HVN delay information