Tweed Gets $1M

It is good that Tweed is being maintained.
But there has been a promise, so far not kept, that after all this money and work is over, there would be improved service and places to go nonstop that are not Philadelphia.
It was not that long ago that one could fly to Washington, D.C., Chicago, JFK and Newark on any one of a half dozen carriers. Remember Air Wisconsin and flying to JFK on a Twin Otter?
The Chicago jet service suffered because of short runways, but that has been fixed, or is on the way to being fixed. Is the city not working as hard as it should to sell the city to airlines, or is that effort not being communicated to citizens like me.

leibzelig: I agree with you that better service is needed if Tweed is to become a serious airport. However, that is not the goal of this money and these projects - this is just another million dollars being spent on ambiguous projects with no real goal and plan. Although the amount is small compared to other federal waste, it is an obvious indication that the current mindset in DC is to "bring money home" rather than accomplish something for the people

The local market for airline service is large. While many improvements over the last few years has made tweed a safer airport,airlines wanting to start new service need one more upgrade. Today's airlines are running load factors or the percentage of seats filled in the 90% range and this is needed to make flights profitable. Back in the 1970's and 1980's load factors or seats filled in the 60% and 70% range were profitable. With today's oil prices, planes need to operate close to full to make money, and here's where the problem lies with tweed. At 5600 feet,weight restrictions come into play and planes cannot depart full. If a portion of the runway overrun was paved to allow a longer takeoff and landing roll,this would permit airlines to start service to hubs other than just Philadelphia.This paved portion would still be part of the overrun and could not be used for touchdown by landing aircraft.
For those who fear this would open the flood gates and the airport would rival Bradley field,this would never happen. Its the market and physical size of the airport that determines the number of flights.
If two more airlines started service at tweed, the number of daily flights would rise perhaps to about six to ten over what is offered today, but with these new flights to new airport hubs, the options for local travelers would rise and competition would keep fares in check.
It would be a positive step forward in making tweed a truly regional airport and keeping the travel dollars in the local area as opposed to the Hartford and New York areas. The airport and local businesses lose a lot of money with the leakage of passengers to other airports.
No need to fear noise either, today's aircraft are much quieter than those jets that flew into tweed back in the 70's.
Tweed also is the most stress free airport to depart and arrive from ,close to I-95 and I-91 and easy parking.
I hope consensus can be reached in allowing tweed to reach its potential and become an asset to the local area.

I used to fly out of Tweed back in the 70's and 80's...sooooo convenient. I think if Jet Blue and Southwest came to Tweed ...wow talk about an increase of passengers boarding at the airport.... I hope it happens