New Bedford Regional Airport

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New Bedford Regional Airport
IATA: EWB - ICAO: KEWB
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		City of New Bedford, Massachusetts
Serves		New Bedford, Massachusetts
Elevation AMSL		80 ft (24.4 m)
Coordinates		41°40′34.1100″N, 70°57′24.9900″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
14/32	5,000	1,524	Asphalt
5/23	4,997	1,523	Asphalt

New Bedford Regional Airport (IATA: EWB, ICAO: KEWB)^[1]^[2] is located at 41°40′34″N, 70°57′25″W in northwestern New Bedford, Massachusetts. Its elevation is 80 ft (24 m) MSL and it has two well-maintained asphalt runways, 5-23 and 14-32.

New Bedford Regional lies within Class D airspace and has an operating FAA control tower (open during daytime hours).

1 History
2 Airport tenants
3 Expansion
4 Airline
5 References
6 External links

[edit] 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 Corps until the end of World War II. 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 systems.

Northeast Airlines, a major east coast carrier, provided frequent scheduled airline service throughout the 1950s and 1960s until it was bought by Delta Airlines 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.

[edit] Airport tenants

The Cape Air regional airline is the only scheduled airline service available at New Bedford Regional Airport. Cape Air's popular destinations include Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. In 2003, Cape Air served 41,062 passengers at New Bedford Regional Airport.

The airport has a thriving general aviation community and is served by several FBOs:

Colonial Air
Nor Easter Aviation Services
Sandpiper Air

The airport is also home to a Delta Connection Academy, a flight training school associated with the Bridgewater State College.

[edit] 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 cargo 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 [1], 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 [2]. The commission voted instead to implement various safety upgrades.