New Bedford Regional Airport is a public
airportAn airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
located two miles (3 km) northwest of the
central business districtA central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city...
of
New BedfordNew Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located 51 miles south of Boston, 28 miles southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about 12 miles east of Fall River. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 93,768, making it the seventh-largest in the...
, a city in
Bristol CountyBristol County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, adjacent to the state of Rhode Island. As of 2005, the population was estimated at 546,331. Some governmental functions are performed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, others by the county, and others by local towns and...
,
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. This airport is owned by the City of New Bedford.
The airport lies within Class D airspace and has an operating
FAAThe Federal Aviation Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Transportation with authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
control towerA control tower, or more specifically an air traffic control tower, is the name of the airport building from which the air traffic control unit controls the movement of aircraft on and around the airport...
(open during daytime hours).
New Bedford Regional Airport was constructed between 1940 and 1942 as a commercial airport, but was soon drafted into use for the
U.S. Army Air CorpsThe United States Army Air Corps was the predecessor of the U.S. Army Air Forces from 1926-41, which in turn was the forerunner of today's U.S. Air Force , established in 1947...
until the end of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
New Bedford Regional Airport is a public
airportAn airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
located two miles (3 km) northwest of the
central business districtA central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city...
of
New BedfordNew Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located 51 miles south of Boston, 28 miles southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about 12 miles east of Fall River. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 93,768, making it the seventh-largest in the...
, a city in
Bristol CountyBristol County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, adjacent to the state of Rhode Island. As of 2005, the population was estimated at 546,331. Some governmental functions are performed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, others by the county, and others by local towns and...
,
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. This airport is owned by the City of New Bedford.
The airport lies within Class D airspace and has an operating
FAAThe Federal Aviation Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Transportation with authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
control towerA control tower, or more specifically an air traffic control tower, is the name of the airport building from which the air traffic control unit controls the movement of aircraft on and around the airport...
(open during daytime hours).
History
New Bedford Regional Airport was constructed between 1940 and 1942 as a commercial airport, but was soon drafted into use for the
U.S. Army Air CorpsThe United States Army Air Corps was the predecessor of the U.S. Army Air Forces from 1926-41, which in turn was the forerunner of today's U.S. Air Force , established in 1947...
until the end of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. After the war ended, the airport was converted back into civilian use and has been improved over the years with additional runway lighting and
approach guidance systemsAn instrument approach or instrument approach procedure is a type of air navigation that allows pilots to land an aircraft in reduced visibility , or to reach visual conditions permitting a visual landing.Approaches are classified as either precision or nonprecision, depending on the accuracy and...
.
Northeast AirlinesNortheast Airlines was an American airline based in Boston, Massachusetts. It began as Boston-Maine Airways, which was founded as a Pan Am contract carrier on July 20, 1931 by the Boston and Maine Railroad and Maine Central Railroad offering service from Boston to Bangor via Portland...
, a major east coast carrier, provided frequent scheduled airline service throughout the 1950s and 1960s until it was bought by
Delta Air LinesDelta Air Lines, Inc. is a United States airline based and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Delta operates an extensive domestic and international network, spanning North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and Australia...
who eventually cut service to New Bedford. In the 1970s, Air New England provided regional service throughout New England and New York until its demise. Following this, Provincetown-Boston Airlines (PBA) was the primary airline at New Bedford until 1989, when it ceased operations at New Bedford. At the peak of the airline's business, 102,880 passengers passed through its facilities in New Bedford.
Facilities
New Bedford Regional Airport covers an area of 847
acreThe acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre....
s (343
haA hectare is a unit of area equal to , or one square hectometre , and commonly used for measuring land area....
) which contains two asphalt
runwayA runway is a strip of land at an airport on which aircraft can take off and land and forms part of the maneuvering area. Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .By extension, the term has come to mean, in addition, any long, flat, straight area, such as that used in fashion...
s: 5/23 measuring 4,997 x 150 ft (1,523 x 46 m) and 14/32 measuring 5,000 x 150 ft (1,524 x 46 m).
For 12-month period ending June 1, 2006, the airport had 184,750 aircraft operations, an average of 506 per day: 89%
general aviationGeneral aviation is one of two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...
, 7% military and 3%
air taxiAn air taxi is a for-hire passenger or cargo aircraft which operates on an on-demand basis. It can be used to mean air charter, or the use of very light jets ....
. There are 136 aircraft based at this airport: 90% single engine, 7% multi-engine, 3% jet aircraft and 1% ultralight.
Airport tenants
The
Cape AirHyannis Air Service, Inc., operating as Cape Air, is an airline headquartered at Barnstable Municipal Airport in Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. It operates scheduled passenger services in the Northeast, Florida, the Caribbean, Mid-Atlantic States and Micronesia...
regional airlineRegional airlines are airlines that operate regional aircraft to provide passenger air service to communities without sufficient demand to attract mainline service...
is the only scheduled airline service available at New Bedford Regional Airport. Cape Air's popular destinations include
Martha's VineyardMartha's Vineyard is an island off the south of Cape Cod in New England. The islands both forming a part of the Outer Lands region....
and
NantucketNantucket is an island 30 miles south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the United States. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the town of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and the coterminous Nantucket County, which are consolidated. Part of the town is designated the...
. In 2003, Cape Air served 41,062 passengers at New Bedford Regional Airport.
The airport has a thriving
general aviationGeneral aviation is one of two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...
community and is served by several
FBOsAn FBO or fixed base operator , is the primary provider of services to General Aviation aircraft and operators located at or adjacent to an airport. An FBO may be a private enterprise, municipality or city operated, or state-agency operated...
:
The airport was also the former home to
Delta ConnectionDelta Connection is the name under which a number of individually owned regional airlines and three wholly owned regional carriers operate short and medium haul routes in association with Delta Air Lines Inc...
Academy, a
flight trainingFlight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills....
school associated with the
Bridgewater State CollegeBridgewater State College is a public liberal arts college located in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. It is the largest of the state's nine state colleges outside of the University of Massachusetts system. The school's mascot is the bear.-History:...
.
Expansion
Over the past ten years, the FAA, the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission, and the New Bedford Airport Commission proposed an expansion project to develop New Bedford Regional Airport into a regional
air cargoCargo airlines are airlines dedicated to the transport of cargo. Some cargo airlines are divisions or subsidiaries of larger passenger airlines.-Logistics:...
facility. The recommended expansion plans included a proposal to extend runway 5-23 to 8,000 ft (2,438 m) from its current length of 4,997 ft (1,524 m). Air cargo carriers require at least 6,000 to 7,000 ft (1,800 to 2,100 m) of runway.
However, despite the economic benefits that a new cargo facility could bring to the area, there is a substantial local opposition. Large cargo jets will create more noise and pollution than the smaller planes that presently utilize the airport, and the runway extension itself could affect 17 to 58 acres (69,000 to 235,000 m²) of wetlands. Safety could also be a concern, with large aircraft following a flight path directly over populated residential areas.
Due to this opposition, in addition to environmental and safety concerns of the FAA that were not fully addressed by the expansion planning, the plan to extend the runway was rejected by the Airport Commission on May 4, 2005. The commission voted instead to implement various safety upgrades.
External links
- New Bedford Regional Airport on the City of New Bedford
New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located 51 miles south of Boston, 28 miles southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about 12 miles east of Fall River. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 93,768, making it the seventh-largest in the...
site.