Situated just outside New York City, Westchester County Airport has now closed temporarily. Although the majority of the airport’s activity is from general and business aviation customers, around 14% of Westchester’s operations are from commercial airlines. The White Plains hub is served by United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Jet Blue, Cape Air, Tradewind Aviation and American Airlines.
Westchester is believed to be the first commercial airport in the US to close entirely during the coronavirus pandemic.
While the airport is closed officials are taking the opportunity to carry out much needed maintenance, including repair work to the airport’s 6,500 ft runway. Originally the airport had planned to carry out the work to repave the runway overnight during a four month period later in the year. The extreme downturn in aviation activity at the airport as a result of the current crisis has provided an opportunity to carry out this work ahead of schedule.
A statement from the airport read: “The decision to close the runways for an extended period of time was made in an effort to reduce the construction impact on flight activity when Westchester County Airport operations return to normal. By completing construction and repaving during an airport closure, the need for the installation and removal of temporary runway pavement to continue daily operations will be eliminated.”
