Groton–New London Airport is a state-owned public-use

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

located three

nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Tod ...

s (6 km) southeast of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

of Groton, a town in

New London County New London County is in the southeastern corner of Connecticut and comprises the Norwich-New London, Connecticut Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Hartford-East Hartford, Connecticut Combined Statistical Area. There ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. It is included in the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

(FAA)

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. NPIAS was developed and now maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It identifies existing and proposed airports tha ...

for 2017–2021, in which it is categorized as a regional

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

facility. It serves the southeastern Connecticut region, including the

shoreline A shore or a shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past a ...

localities of Groton, New London, and Mystic. The airport has not had scheduled service since 2004, when US Air ceased service to the airport. Despite this loss, CTDOT/CAA continue to operate Groton-New London to commercial airport standards in an effort to keep the airport open and prepared for the possible return of commercial passenger service. Groton-New London Airport has been used by several presidents speaking at the commencement of the nearby

US Coast Guard Academy The United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) is a service academy of the United States Coast Guard in New London, Connecticut. Founded in 1876, it is the smallest of the five U.S. service academies and provides education to future Coast ...

History

Groton–New London Airport was established as the first State of Connecticut airport in 1929. Originally called Trumbull Airport after Governor Jonathan Trumbull, the airport was taken over by the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

in August 1941 as a

First Air Force The First Air Force (Air Forces Northern; 1 AF-AFNORTH) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. Its primary mission is the air defense of the C ...

group training base, although the runways were still grass. In 1942, the Army constructed a base and hard-surfaced runways and designated the airport as Groton Army Airfield. Through all of 1943, a total of 10 squadrons of P-47 Thunderbolt fighter groups trained at the field, with the last unit departing for overseas combat in January 1944. In January 1944, the USAAF turned the airfield to the United States Navy. The commissioning of Groton as a Naval Airfield occurred on February 1, 1944, as an auxiliary of

Quonset Point Quonset Point (), also known simply as Quonset, is a small peninsula in Narragansett Bay in the town of North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Its name is widely known from the Quonset hut, which was first manufactured there. ''Quonset'' is an Algo ...

. Initially, Groton hosted various individual squadrons. Later, entire CAGs of three or four squadrons formed up at the base. The CAGs attached here during the war included CAG 83, 10, 92, 152, and 4, with their F6Fs, F4Us, SB2Cs, and TBMs. CASU 28, on board in support of the CAGs, operated one OS2U Kingfisher, one J4F Widgeon, 12 SNJs, and one NH Howard. The station had one airplane assigned, a GH Howard. In March 1944, station personnel consisted of 87 officers and 678 enlisted men with barracks for 114 officers and 1,091 men. The peak number of aircraft reached 114 in March 1945. Groton had three concrete runways: two of 4,000 feet and one of 5,000 ft. In July 1946, the Navy returned the airport to the State of Connecticut. In 1980, the name of the airport changed to Groton–New London Airport. Today, the airport is one of two state-owned airports with commercial air carrier service. The funds necessary to operate Groton–New London Airport come from the Connecticut State Transportation Fund. Likewise, revenue derived from the airport is returned to the Transportation Fund. The airport is integrated into the statewide transportation plan, as well as the National Airport System Plan. There were 80,319 aircraft operations during 1999 at Groton–New London Airport which included military, general aviation and commercial flights. The terminal building was last renovated in 1997, with a new roof, HVAC system, ADA compliance, new carpeting and other improvements. The terminal is mostly a single floor structure, with a second floor that houses offices in one section. There's a full-service restaurant located within the terminal, with plenty of commercial use space also available inside.

Facilities and aircraft

Groton-New London Airport reflected in the Poquonnock River

Groton–New London Airport covers an area of 489

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...

s (198 ha) at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § ...

of 9 feet (3 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value ( magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ...

. It has two

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...

paved

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concrete ...

s: 5/23 is 5,000 by 150 feet (1,524 x 46 m) and 15/33 is 4,000 by 100 feet (1,219 x 30 m). For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2009, the airport had 38,582 aircraft operations, an average of 105 per day: 87%

, 10%

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

, and 4%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...

. At that time there were 30 aircraft based at this airport: 63% single-

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

, 17% multi-engine, 10% jet, 3%

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...

, and 7%

. The Connecticut Wing

Civil Air Patrol Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a congressionally chartered, federally supported non-profit corporation that serves as the official civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF). CAP is a volunteer organization with an aviation-minded mem ...

075th Thames River Squadron (NER-CT-075) operates out of the airport.

Scheduled air service

Over the years, and usually no more than one at a time, various domestic airlines served the airport, including Pan Am Clipper Connection, NewAir, Allegheny, Piedmont, and Pilgrim Airlines. Scheduled commercial passenger service was limited to small turboprop aircraft such as de Havilland Dash 8 and Beechcraft 1900, with service to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, or Washington, DC. After the 1996 expansion of

T. F. Green Airport Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport is a public international airport in Warwick, Rhode Island, United States, south of the state's capital and largest city of Providence. Opened in 1931, the airport was named for former Rhode Isl ...

and the popularity of

Southwest Airlines Southwest Airlines Co., typically referred to as Southwest, is one of the major airlines of the United States and the world's largest low-cost carrier. It is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has scheduled service to 121 destinations in the U ...

, the Groton airport ceased to be a profitable destination. US Airways Express, the last scheduled carrier to serve the airport, terminated its GON– PHL service in 2004. Charter services are available through the onsite fixed-base operator.

Fixed-base operators

Columbia Air Services (since 1983) and Lanmar Aviation (since 2003) have been the two fixed-base operators serving the airport. In 2012, faced with declining demand for services, the two proposed merging their Groton operations as a joint venture called Mystic Jet Center. In January 2013, the U.S Department of Justice's Antitrust Division announced that it would not interfere with the merger, citing sufficient competition from nearby airports.

Climate

References

External links

Groton–New London Airport
official site
Aerial image as of April 1991
from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

The National Map ''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to prov ...

'' * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Groton-New London Airport Airports in Connecticut Connecticut Airport Authority Transportation buildings and structures in New London County, Connecticut Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Connecticut 1929 establishments in Connecticut