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Martha's Vineyard Airport

Coordinates: 41°23′35″N 070°36′52″W / 41.39306°N 70.61444°W / 41.39306; -70.61444
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For the previous military use of this facility, see Naval Auxiliary Air Station Martha's Vineyard.
Marthas Vineyard Airport
Terminal
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerDukes County
OperatorMartha's Vineyard Airport Commission
ServesMartha's Vineyard
LocationVineyard Haven, Massachusetts, U.S.
OpenedMay 27, 1946; 78 years ago (1946-05-27)
Operating base for
BuiltMarch 26, 1943; 81 years ago (1943-03-26)
Elevation AMSL67 ft / 20 m
Coordinates41°23′35″N 070°36′52″W / 41.39306°N 70.61444°W / 41.39306; -70.61444
Websitewww.mvyairport.com
Maps
FAA airport diagram
FAA airport diagram
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
6/24 5,504 1,678 Asphalt
15/33 3,328 1,014 Asphalt
Statistics (2017)
Aircraft operations40,555
Based aircraft72
Departing passengers (12 months ending December 2021)65,992

Martha's Vineyard Airport (IATA: MVY, ICAO: KMVY, FAA LID: MVY) is a public airport located in the middle of the island of Martha's Vineyard, 3 mi (4.8 km) south of the central business district of Vineyard Haven, in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. This airport is owned by Dukes County and lies on the border between the towns of West Tisbury and Edgartown.[1]

It is the largest of three airports and the only one on the island served by airlines. In addition to service from six commercial airlines, it is used by a significant number of general aviation aircraft. The other airports on the Island are Katama Airpark and Trade Wind Airport.

The airport identifier MVY has entered into general use as an abbreviation for the island of Martha's Vineyard and is often used for non-aviation purposes.

Terminal and facilities

[edit]
Cape Air plane at Martha's Vineyard Airport ramp in 2001

Martha's Vineyard Airport covers an area of 688 acres (278 ha) and has two asphalt runways:

  • Runway 6/24: 5,504 x 100 ft (1,678 x 30 m), ILS/DME equipped, with approved GPS approaches
  • Runway 15/33: 3,297 x 75 ft (1,005 x 23 m), has approved GPS approaches.

For the 12-month period ending March 31, 2017, the airport had 40,555 aircraft operations, an average of 111 per day: 53% general aviation, 43% air taxi, 3% commercial, and <1% military. In November 2017, there were 72 aircraft based at this airport: 59 single engine, 12 multi-engine, and 1 helicopter.[1] The terminal has a restaurant, passenger holding areas, check-in desks, and a small luggage claim. The ramp has the ability to hold up to 50 aircraft with about 15 spots reserved for commercial aviation. The air traffic control tower is open from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm from May 15 - October 31, and from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm from November 1 to May 14. [citation needed]

The airport apron for commercial aircraft has one parking stand which has the capacity for seven Cessna 402 or Tecnam P2012 aircraft, mainly operated by Cape Air and Nantucket Airlines. There are also five larger parking stands for JetBlue Embraer 190 or A220-300 aircraft, American Eagle Airlines CRJ-200/CRJ-700/CRJ-900, Embraer 175 regional jets, and American Airbus A319, Delta Connection CRJ-200/CRJ-700/CRJ-900, Embraer 175 regional jets, and Delta Airbus A319, and Elite Airways CRJ-200/CRJ-700/CRJ-900.

During the summer, a seasonal tent is added to the airport where all TSA checked passengers will wait for flights, as the terminal does not have a permanent waiting area. The tent has two gates for all airlines and can seat up to 150 people. A small baggage claim is located on the left of the terminal, which is used for Cape Air year-round and JetBlue during summer months; other airlines have baggage located at the side of the aircraft due to the small capacity of the baggage claim.

Operations

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Along with the TSA, the West Tisbury Police Department is in charge of the security of the airport, and the ARFF department is staffed by 10 full-time firefighters. The airport currently operates several fully functional emergency response vehicles.[citation needed]

History

[edit]
Postcard image c. 1940s, showing a Northeast DC-3

The airfield was built in 1942 as Naval Auxiliary Air Facility Martha's Vineyard (NAAF Martha's Vineyard) to support the training of naval aviators before their deployment to aircraft carriers in the Pacific Theater. Thousands of men received six weeks of intensive training there. The installation was renamed "Naval Auxiliary Air Station Martha's Vineyard" in 1945, placed in caretaker status in 1946, and ultimately transferred to Dukes County in 1959.[2]

The new terminal building, constructed in 2001, replaced an older wooden structure that was the original base operations building. Historical photos and memorabilia are mounted on the main hall's western wall near the restaurant entrance, and tell the story of the Navy squadrons posted there during the war.[citation needed]

Major construction was made in the airport during the 21st century. One major project was to shift 200  ft of runway 6 - 24 and renovate taxiways to allow jets such as ERJ-190 and CRJ-200 to operate at the airport. The airport also renovated their commercial ramp, adding one spot for JetBlue ERJ-190, and Delta Airline ERJ-145 and CRJ-200. They also renovated taxiways; they added a tent on the terminal as they do not have a terminal building prepared for their demand.

Over the years, American Airlines stopped using their Bombardier CRJ series to Martha's Vineyard because of demand, and started using their Embraer E175 operated by Republic Airways as American Eagle. The airport renovated its ramp again in 2018, adding five spots jets[clarification needed] to Airbus A220. In 2020 Delta Air Lines switched using their Bombardier CRJ series to Embraer E175 operated by Republic Airways as Delta Connection.

In 2017 a new firefighter department building was built next to the terminal building, replacing the old naval building.

The airport also renovated and reconstructed its main runway 6 - 24 in 2018–2019; the project cost around $10 million, including adding NO TAXI islands around the ramp. The runway was done and reopened in May 2019 with a Cape Air flight from Boston Logan to be the first aircraft to touch the new runway. In 2020 the airport repaved some areas on the ramp and added more markings.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the airport saw a dramatic decline in passengers, with only 15,000 people passing through their doors. American and Delta Airlines resumed service in late June with their schedules operating by half of 2019. JetBlue resumed service back in July, but only with a concise schedule. This was the most challenging year for the airport, but demand increased in late 2020 and early 2021.

2021 was the busiest year thus far for the airport, as it had 65,992 passengers.[3]

In 2022, Elite Airways pulled out of Martha's Vineyard and left the airport with a space for a new airline, which still no airlines have any interest in.[citation needed] In January American Airlines announced that it would begin seasonal service between the island and Chicago; later, they changed their summer schedule and added more flights to Washington D.C. In March 2022 Delta Airlines announced they would make twice-daily departures to John F. Kennedy International Airport and one daily departure to La Guardia Airport.[citation needed]

Later, JetBlue reduced their summer schedule to the island to about 15% due to pilot shortage, which postponed their Newark route to resume after Labor Day and cut some flights to John F. Kennedy International Airport. As a result, JetBlue was scheduled to only operate five times daily during the 2022 summer season.

The 2022 summer season at MVY was the busiest regarding the number of passengers. Delta Airlines increased their schedule to operate four times daily on the 76 seats ERJ-175; they also extended their season until October 10 from flights to La Guardia Airport. All other airlines were operating at the same schedule level as 2021 except for American Airlines, which increased their frequency to DCA airport up to fifteen times weekly and added a Saturday service to Chicago.

2023 was the airport's busiest year in history; the airport had an average of 80,000 passengers at the airport. Even though the airport had fewer planes coming to it, all commercial flights were at total capacity daily. The airport administration team said that the airport probably will not see the number of passengers increase due to the small terminal and its facility.

In 2024, JetBlue discontinued their flights to White Plains due to low demand. In the 2023 season, there were 7,200 passengers to White Plains. Tradewind Aviation will be the only airline to serve this destination. Also in 2024, American Airlines announced that they will return flights to La Guardia Airport daily from June to September. JetBlue will also now serve daily flights to Washington–National, increasing capacity from the 2023 season, which used to operate only Fridays - Sundays.

Still, the airport has space for one more airline since Elite Airways left the airport market in 2022. The community of Martha's Vineyard hopes that either United Airlines or Breeze Airways will fill the cap and introduce flights to White Plains and Newark, which would increase MVY market to NYC City.

Expansion

[edit]

In 2021, the airport created a Capital Improvement Plan that cites the airport's significant problems during the peak summer months. The airport plans to renovate taxiways and the southeast and southwest ramps with new parking for aircraft. The airport is also considering expanding those ramps to accommodate more general aviation aircraft. In addition, the airport is working to become 95% carbon-free in the future, adding electric chargers for the new Cape Air Eviation Alice aircraft.

The airport will create new hangars for aircraft maintenance and expand its terminal to accommodate the high summer demand.

Terminal

[edit]

Martha's Vineyard Airport Terminal has one of the most miniature terminals in Massachusetts, and it contains two gates, a restaurant, a ticket area, bathrooms, and baggage claim. During the summer months, the secure room is an outdoor tent where all secure passengers wait for flights. The TSA at MVY only contains one area to screen all passengers simultaneously. The ticket area contains about 12: two for JetBlue, two for Delta Air Lines, two for American Airlines, four for Cape Air, and two for any future airlines. The baggage claim is on the terminal's right side, near the car rental area. The restaurant and the management building are located on the left side of the terminal. The restaurant is located before the TSA, so there is no place for food after the TSA screening. Part of the building has pictures and airplane models of the airport in WWII.

Airlines and destinations

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AirlinesDestinationsRefs
American Eagle Seasonal: Charlotte,[4] Chicago–O'Hare, New York–LaGuardia,[5] Philadelphia,[4] Washington–National [6]
Cape Air Boston, Hyannis, Nantucket, New Bedford
Seasonal: New York–JFK, White Plains[7] 		[8]
Delta Connection Seasonal: New York–JFK,[9] New York–LaGuardia [10]
JetBlue Seasonal: Boston,[11] New York–JFK, New York–LaGuardia,[12] Washington–National [13]
Nantucket Airlines Hyannis, Nantucket [14]
Reliant Air Seasonal charter: Danbury
Tradewind Aviation Charter: White Plains
Seasonal charter: Teterboro 		[15]

American Eagle operates seasonally from June till September using their E175; American Eagle can operate up to 5x a day out of MVY.

Cape Air/Nantucket Airlines operates the Cessna 402 and Tecnam P2012. They operate year-round, with some days operating 40 times a day at the airport in the summer season and others operating 10 to 15 times a day in the winter.

Delta Connection operates E175/E170 and Bombardier CRJ900 regional jets to both New York–Kennedy and New York–LaGuardia. They operate seasonally from around Memorial Day until late October.

JetBlue operates the E190 and A220-300 to Martha's Vineyard; JetBlue can operate up to 6x daily on peak season and 4x daily during the off-season.

Tradewind Aviation operates the PC-12 into Martha's Vineyard. They operate 15 times a day in summer and five times or more during winter.

Cargo

[edit]
AirlinesDestinationsRefs
Cape Air Boston, Hyannis
Seasonal: New Bedford		 [16]
FedEx Feeder Providence[17] [18]

FedEx Feeder offers a year-round flight from Providence, during summer months cargo flight can go up to 5 times a day and one time a day in the winter, all cargo continue to their FedEx facility at the airport and then into their trucks for delivery.

Cape Air offers cargo flights to Boston and Hyannis year-round and adds seasonal cargo flight to New Bedford. Cape Air cargo is dropped off in terminal C on Cape Air ticker area in Boston or in the main terminal ticket area in MVY for Cape Air.

Historical airline service

[edit]

Northeast Airlines served Martha's Vineyard beginning in August 1944, when it acquired Mayflower Airlines.[19] By the 1950s it was the dominant airline at the airport.[20] Air New England served MVY from the 1970s until 1981;[21] Provincetown-Boston Airline (PBA), operating as a feeder for Eastern Airlines, served MVY in the 1980s.[22] Bridgeport-based Atlantic Air served MVY in the mid-1980s before merging into Business Express Airlines, which continued service to MVY under the Delta Connection brand.[23] Other historical carriers at MVY included Bar Harbor Airlines, Brockway Air, Catskill Airways, Edgartown Air, Executive Airlines, Express Air, Gull Air, Holiday Airlines, Island Airlines, New Haven Airlines, New York Air, NorEast, Northern Airlines, Spectrum Airlines and Trans East Airlines.[20]

Statistics

[edit]
Annual passenger traffic at MVY airport. See Wikidata query.

Top destinations

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Busiest domestic routes from MVY (September 2023 - August 2024)[24]
Rank Airport Passengers Carriers
1 New York (state) New York–LaGuardia, New York 22,980 American Eagle, Delta Connection, JetBlue
2 New York (state) New York–JFK, New York 18,670 Cape Air, Delta Connection, JetBlue
3 Massachusetts Boston, Massachusetts 18,090 Cape Air, JetBlue
4 Washington, D.C. Washington–National, D.C. 14,770 American Eagle, JetBlue
5 New York (state) White Plains, New York 3,340 Cape Air, Tradewind
6 Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 750 American Eagle
7 Massachusetts Hyannis, Massachusetts 670 Cape Air, Nantucket Airlines
8 Illinois Chicago, Illinois 660 American Eagle
9 North Carolina Charlotte, North Carolina 660 American Eagle
10 Massachusetts Nantucket, Massachusetts 550 Cape Air, Nantucket Airlines

Airline market share

[edit]
Largest airlines at MVY (September 2023 - August 2024)[24]
Rank Airline Passengers Share
1 JetBlue 68,560 41.63%
2 Republic Airways 61,160 37.14%
3 Cape Air 29,550 17.94%
4 Tradewind 2,760 1.68%
5 Envoy Air 2,660 1.62%

Annual traffic

[edit]
Annual passenger traffic at MVY airport. See Wikidata query.

[25][26][27]

Annual traffic
Passengers Change from previous year Aircraft operations Total cargo
(freight, express, & mail)
(lbs.)
2000 71,150 Decrease071.3% 0 0
2001 65,374 Decrease01.08% 0 0
2002 59,500 Decrease01.09% 0 0
2003 53,011 Decrease01.12% 0 0
2004 53,011 Decrease00.00% 0 0
2005 48,977 Decrease01.08% 0 0
2006 45,881 Decrease01.06% 0 0
2007 49,205 Increase00.93% 0 0
2008 45,002 Decrease01.9% 0 0
2009 42,248 Decrease01.6% 0 0
2010 43,904 Increase00.96% 0 0
2011 49,095 Increase00.89% 0 0
2012 50,484 Decrease00.97% 0 0
2013 56,313 Increase00.96% 0 0
2014 52,362 Decrease07.4% 0 0
2015 49,853 Decrease04.79% 0 0
2016 54,084 Increase08.4% 0 0
2017 49,767 Decrease07.9% 0 0
2018 52,605 Increase05.7% 0 0
2019 52,792 Increase059.1% 0 0
2020 18,462 Decrease065.0% 0 0
2021 67,789 Increase0267.1% 0 0
2022 70,098 Increase03.40% 4,616 678,000
2023 83,603 Increase015.55% 4,630 585,000
2024 0 Increase00% 0 0

Accidents and incidents

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  • On January 30, 2001, a Cape Air pilot and his only passenger were injured when a Cessna 402C crashed just short of the Martha's Vineyard Airport on a flight from T. F. Green Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island.
  • On September 26, 2008, a repositioning flight with no passengers on board departed Martha's Vineyard at 8:05 pm en route to Boston. Shortly after takeoff from runway 33, the plane went down about two and a half miles from the airport, killing the pilot, who was the sole occupant.[28] Prior to this date, Cape Air had maintained a fatality-free record over its 18-year history.[29]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c FAA Airport Form 5010 for MVY PDF, effective November 9, 2017.
  2. ^ Defense Environmental Restoration Program (1994-10-01). "Archives Search Report - Martha's Vineyard Naval Auxiliary Air Station" (PDF). U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-03-08. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
  3. ^ Seonwoo, Eunki (2022-01-14). "Number of air passengers increased in 2021". The Martha's Vineyard Times. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  4. ^ a b "20 New Routes for Summer 2020". American Airlines Newsroom. November 21, 2019. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  5. ^ "American Airlines adds more ways to escape to the Cape and coves of New England in 2024". American Airlines Newsroom. 12 October 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  6. ^ "American Eagle". Retrieved 2021-06-20.
  7. ^ "JetBlue Halts Vineyard-White Plains Route". Retrieved 2024-09-06.
  8. ^ "Cape Air". Retrieved 2021-06-20.
  9. ^ "Delta Boosts Service to 20+ Outdoor Leisure Destinations for Summer".
  10. ^ "Delta Connection". Retrieved 2021-06-20.
  11. ^ "JetBlue to Offer Flights Between Vineyard and Boston".
  12. ^ "JetBlue Launches First Phase of Codeshare with American Airlines, Adding New Routes and Destinations".
  13. ^ "JetBlue". Retrieved 2021-06-20.
  14. ^ "Nantucket Airline". Retrieved 2021-06-20.
  15. ^ "Tradewind Aviation". Retrieved 2021-06-20.
  16. ^ "Cape Air Cargo". Retrieved 2021-06-20.
  17. ^ "State Of Rhode Island: Freight and Goods Movement Plan". State of Rhode Island.
  18. ^ "FedEx Feeder". Retrieved 2021-06-20.
  19. ^ "Northeast Airlines". Delta Flight Museum. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  20. ^ a b "MARTHA'S VINEYARD AIRPORT AND BUSINESS PARK". Dukes County. Archived from the original on 10 September 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  21. ^ "1978 - May - Air New England Timetables, Route Maps, and History". Airways News. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  22. ^ "PBA Route Map - December 15, 1983". DepartedFlights.com. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  23. ^ "History of Business Express". Retrieved 6 January 2017.
  24. ^ a b "Martha's Vineyard (MVY) Summary Statistics". Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  25. ^ " Calendar Year 2005 Primary and Non-Primary Commercial Service Airports". CY05 ACAIS. Federal Aviation Administration.
  26. ^ "Primary Airport Enplanement Activity Summary for CY2000 Listed by Rank Order, Enplanements". FAA DOT/TSC CY2000 ACAIS Database. Federal Aviation Administration. October 19, 2001.
  27. ^ "Passenger Boarding (Enplanement) and All-Cargo Data for U.S. Airports". Federal Aviation Administration. June 9, 2017.
  28. ^ Howe, Peter J. (June 14, 2007). "Timing dulls sting of Cape Air grounding". Boston Globe.
  29. ^ "Investigators Seek Cause Of Cape Air Crash". WCVB-TV. September 26, 2008. Archived from the original on September 30, 2008.
[edit]
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