American Airlines Wants Commercial Flights Back To Naples, Florida — The Airport Locals Tried To Move

American Airlines is planning to restore commercial airline service to Naples airport in Florida. This is a move that’s always seemed to make sense, and that I’ve written about many times. Still, Naples – Charlotte flights, starting in December, are an experiment.

There’s significant local NIMBY opposition to service at the airport, which has a voluntary 10 p.m.–7 a.m. curfew and operates a noise complaint hotline.

• Local activists complain about flight paths, soot, safety, traffic volume, aircraft over schools and downtown, and whether the airport is compatible with the area’s residential character.

• There’s been an effort to move the airport since they cannot legally just close it. However, residents don’t actually support spending over $1.5 billion to do it.

• Florida enacted legislation that went into effect April 6, 2026, which changed the Naples Airport Authority board from city-appointed to Collier County voter-elected. That’s expected to make service easier. The city council has a beef with the change.

• A Naples Airport Authority conflict-assessment meeting is scheduled for May 26, 2026, to discuss whether city zoning authority over airport uses is preempted by federal law and whether the city can terminate or deem unenforceable the airport lease without FAA approval.

Enilria says the plan is for 3 daily Embraer E-170 aircraft. That surprises me. I would have expected Bombardier CR7s.

The airport publishes a 75,000 pound operating limit and says aircraft exceeding 75,000 pounds maximum gross weight are prohibited, unless the aircraft’s paperwork is amended and a placard limits it to 75,000 as the maximum operating weight. I do not know whether this is ultimately enforceable, or whether the newly-freed airport authority will seek to enforce it.

E-170s generally have a maximum takeoff weight around 79,000 – 85,000 pounds, although I’ve found type certificate data for a 74,957 pound option, so it seems like they could conform to the rule with that aircraft if necessary.

American Airlines pulled its Miami Eagle flights out in late 2001 and US Airways Express ended Tampa flying in 2003. Delta Connection operated from Atlanta between 2004 and 2007. Elite Airways tried for a year and a half between October 2015 and March 2017. And JSX has seasonal winter scheduled charter flights from Westchester. JetBlue has looked at Embraer 190 service in the past.

During the pandemic, American’s former Chief Commerican Officer Vasu Raja said that head of network planning Brian Znotins was ‘flying around Mexico looking for any airport with a paved runway’. Close-in leisure destinations were booming. But you don’t even need to leave the country for Naples! And they have a paved runway! It’s far more convenient to some of the snowbirds on the West Coast of Florida, and to some of the resorts, than Fort Myers as well.

(HT: @crucker)