Taking Off: New Tweed leader delays retirement to pilot airport through major revamp

Longtime airport executive Thomas Rafter had been pondering retirement, but he decided the opportunity to lead Tweed New Haven Airport through its upcoming $100 million reconfiguration and expansion was too good to ignore. Rafter, 64, took over the position as the airport’s executive director in January, replacing Sean Scanlon, who left after being elected Connecticut’s state comptroller. Rafter has been working in aviation for more than four decades, with 31 years at Atlantic City International Airport and 10 years at Nantucket Memorial Airport. Rafter arrives at a pivotal time for Tweed, which straddles the border between New Haven and East Haven. Tweed operator Avports is planning to extend its runway to accommodate larger planes and build a larger terminal at a new location. The plan is to extend the runway from its current 5,600 feet to 6,575 feet. Some larger airlines have shied away from providing service at Tweed due to their longer runway requirements, and airport leaders say the extension is key to future growth. Tweed plans to construct a new 80,000-square-foot terminal on the airport’s east side, and it will use its current west side terminal for administrative purposes. The airport also wants to add some 4,000 new parking spaces. The proposal is for construction to be finished by 2026. A March 2023 draft environmental assessment report related to the expansion plan was made available for the public to review on March 2, with a 60-day public comment period. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will review the report, prepared by consultant McFarland Johnson, once the public comment period is over. In 2022, the airport authority approved a 43-year lease deal and management agreement with Virginia-based Avports. Tweed has estimated that its planned expansion will create up to 11,000 jobs in southern Connecticut, including 1,000 construction jobs. New routes have been added in recent months, now totaling 15 destinations in the eastern U.S. On March 24, 16 months after first taking flight from Tweed, Avelo Airlines celebrated flying its one-millionth customer. New Haven Biz recently sat down with Rafter to discuss his plans for Tweed and the airport’s future. Why did this job at Tweed entice you to delay your retirement? When I saw the position opening, it was the perfect description for a job for me because I had previously worked for Avports, which is operating this airport. I was very familiar with the whole arrangement and management agreement in the lease. I just thought it was very intriguing. What are your goals and priorities in your new role? The top one is to complete the capital projects, the runway extension and the new, relocated terminal, as well as continuing to expand the air service. What is the status of the planned $100 million expansion project and latest estimated timeline? Currently we are in a public comment period for the environmental assessment. The public comment process closes May 1. At that time, the FAA and consultant will work to address the comments that were made. Then it gets put back to the FAA as a final environmental assessment, and they have to make the final decision. This is all following a federal process that all federal agencies have to go through. There is no prescribed time for them to make a decision. We are hoping they’ll have a decision for us by early summer. There are two potential outcomes. It can go to what is called a “Finding of No Significant Impact,” or “FONSI.” Or, they may require an environmental impact statement. If it is favorable as a FONSI, we will then move into the permitting stage and begin the permitting and design process for those two (runway expansion and new terminal) projects. How long does that usually take? Let’s assume we get a decision (from the FAA) in early summer, within two years, both (the runway and new terminal) projects could possibly be completed. That may be a little bit aggressive, but it’d be two to three years I would say for completion, including all necessary approvals and finished construction. What are the biggest challenges facing the airport? Trying to provide a high level of service in the existing facilities to the large volume of passengers. We have seen rapid growth here in the past year, and our facilities are quite strained. So, we really need to address that. We are going through some growing pains. We are trying to accommodate everybody on all sides. It’s why we need to get this terminal moved and get it so it is more compatible with the neighbors. What feedback have you gotten so far from the business community about Tweed? They really enjoy it, and they would like to see some additional service and connection to the national system. Business travelers are looking for a little more frequency, and I think we will grow into some of that. Customers can now fly from Tweed to several new destinations. Will this expansion continue? That is purely an airline decision, a business decision they make, usually determined by the demand in the service area. The good news is we have a very large catchment area here. (There are approximately 2.2 million people within a 30-mile drive of Tweed, according to the McFarland Johnson report.) The relationship between the airport and some neighbors has been contentious at times, with some opponents vowing to fight any expansion. How do you aim to improve this relationship? I think some of that stems from the fact that it is an older facility. The terminal in its current location is in close proximity to residents. We are looking to relocate that to the other side and move it to more compatible land. Adjacent to where we are going is industrial and commercial-type operations, taking the terminal operation away from the residential neighborhood. Do you think this will help allay some neighbors’ concerns about traffic? With the location of the current terminal, the (vehicle traffic) access is not ideal at all. It is coming through a residential area. Where the new terminal will be located, it will have much better access through more industrial areas. Neighbors also have mentioned concerns about noise and the environment. How is the airport addressing these? As for (concerns about) noise, by extending the runway, we will be able to accommodate a growth in passenger traffic with fewer flights. Today, what happens is some flights have to go out of here with empty seats because it is a weight restriction because of the length of the runway. If we extend the runway, they can carry more passengers on the same airplanes. So, we can accommodate the growth without necessarily exponentially increasing the number of flights. The (new) terminal itself will have efficiencies. It will be a lot quieter operation, with a lot less emissions, and a much more efficient operation. Look at the environmental assessment, and you’ll see there was a lot of work done identifying the different environmental items and making every effort to minimize any impact. The (extended) runway will have no wetlands impact and the (new) terminal will have minimal impact. What was your overall reaction to the draft environmental assessment report prepared by consultant McFarland Johnson? I think it was very well done. They made every effort to minimize any impacts on the environment. It was actually quite revealing that there is not a lot of impact. And if there were any, they took every effort to address them. It was coordinated with a number of agencies, the FAA, the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. There are a lot of different folks that have already reviewed and had input into it. It was very thoroughly done. Do you anticipate additional carriers using Tweed? That is hard to say, it is going to be driven by demand. We would hope to maybe entice some of the legacy carriers with connectivity to national hubs to open up to the entire U.S. airspace system. What do you think the economic impact of the expanded Tweed will be for the region? It is phenomenal. I am looking to hopefully get an updated economic impact study completed. There have been over 250 jobs created, and there has been continuous hiring. What do you foresee Tweed will be like in five years, and in 10 years? I think it is going to be a tremendous, modern airport, with great service accommodating the high population of southern Connecticut.