Martha's Vineyard Airport Readies for Runway Rehab

Martha’s Vineyard Airport (MVY) in Massachusetts will embark on an $11.5 million, year-long renovation of its 5,500-foot main runway this fall. The work—which involves milling and resurfacing Runway 6/24, as well as upgrading the electrical system—will be paid for primarily with Federal Aviation Administration grants (90 percent); the Massachusetts Department of Transportation will pay 5 percent and the airport will cover the remainder.

MVY, which serves the vacation community on the island, also has commercial service during the summer that helps boost its total operations to 40,000 movements annually. Airport manager Ann Richart acknowledged that the winter is a far-from-optimal season to be doing the work, but she noted that the timing will minimize disruption during the peak summer air travel period, when the Vineyard’s population swells from 15,000 to 100,000.

“We’re doing everything we can to make the long runway available during the season, but that means during the offseason it’s not going to be available,” she told BJT sister publication Aviation International News. The airport plans to switch all traffic during that period to its 3,328-foot crosswind Runway 15/33.