The Bangor, Maine airport is going to close Monday mornings through Wednesday afternoons this spring, and customers that have already booked tickets are out of luck. So are any flights that need to divert – Bangor is a regular diversion point.
There are options.
- Cape Air serves Bar Harbor as well as Rockland,, but neither has a runway longer than 5,400 feet.
- Portland, Maine is over 100 miles away by air, with a runway over 7,000 feet. It’s a two hour drive for passengers between the two.
- But that’s not going to help a Boeing 777 widebody – the closest suitable airport is likely Manchester, New Hampshire nearly 200 miles away.
Credit: Bangor International Airport
Bangor, Maine is currently served by:
- American Airlines: to Washington National and Philadelphia (plus seasonal summer service to Charlotte, Chicago O’Hare and New York LaGuardia)
- Delta: New York JFK, New York LaGuardia
- United: Newark (plus seasonal summer service to Chicago O’Hare)
- Allegiant: Fort Lauderdale, Punta Gorda, Clearwater-St. Pete, Orlando Sanford
Credit: Bangor International Airport
Runway 15-33 will see reconstruction work starting April 1, and continue through 2025, at a cost of $45 million, $27 million of which comes from the federal government and $16 million from the Maine Air National Guard.
It will involve overnight closures April 1 though April 28, followed by full runway closure each Monday at 8 a.m. through Wednesday 3 p.m. between April April 29 and May 24. After that the length of the runway will be shortened – part of the length of the 11,440 foot runway will be unavailable – but since only smaller commercial planes are schedule it won’t affect those operations. However it may affect diversions.
Credit: Bangor International Airport
It may seem odd to just close a commercial airport for days at a time when the runway remains functional, rather than to extend the period of time where overnight closures will occur. This isn’t what happened in Kona, Hawaii in January. However,
- In 2021 the Lexington, Kentucky airport decided to close for 3 days. Customers already booked on flights had to be re-accommodated by their airlines. The Lexington, Kentucky airport is about an hour and ten minutes’ drive to Louisville and around an hour and a half to Cincinnati.
- Then in 2022 Jackson Hole, Wyoming airport closed for two months at the start of peak season, leaving the next-closest commercial air options as Idaho Falls more than an hour and a half away and Salt Lake City around a five hour drive away.
No doubt, however, that the airport’s sole runway needs work.
(HT: Joe)
I have family living in BGR that had no idea this was happening. In that one month, they have three affected flights. Thanks for highlighting this!
Wikipedia says that the runway at Bangor International Airport has an asphalt runway. Unlike concrete, asphalt is ready for use by the time it is compacted (above 175-180°F) and the temperature is below the design maximum temperature of 136.4°F. Therefore most of the time is probably spent on tearing out a section of asphalt, rebuilding the subgrade layers and recapping the section with asphalt. Cure time for asphalt was found in an asphaltmagazine dot com article about just that.
Fredericton (YFC) has an 8,000 foot runway, is basically at sea level and is 133 miles away.
(And getting a 777 in and out of both PWM and YSJ is possible.)
Thank you for posting this. I fly into Bangor at least twice a month for work and had not heard this information. I am reaching out to someone at BGR to find out what they mean by “Overnight closures” in April, as there are at least 2 daily flights to DCA and PHL that leave in the 5-5:30 AM time frame. I want to know before booking if those very early flights will be able to depart, because most people have connections that count on these flights arriving on time.
I’m so glad I booked my kids and grandkids trips out of PWM instead of BGR. Thank you for the news. I haven’t heard a thing about it on the local media.
“After that the runway length will be shortened…”
Do you mean temporarily, or forever?
If I had an 11,440 ft runway there’s no way I’d let it be shortened. For years, Bangor (BGR) has been a popular diversion airport for transatlantic flights.
A similar thing happened in Tucson (TUS) a number of years ago–RWY 12/30 (later 11/29, then 11L/29R, then recently back to 12/30) was for a long time 12,000 ft, then someone had the bright idea to shorten it to just under 11,000 ft (10,996 to be exact).
There was a nearby junior high school (middle school to you youngsters) that complained about the runway noise and the airport authority caved–and voila! it became 10,996 as about 1,000 ft was lopped of the NW end. As I remember, the pavement remained but it’s use was generally verboten, even after the JHS was closed. So it’s still 10,996 today.
Hey, Tucson Airport Authority, we want our 12,000 foot runway back! Maybe you could think about doing this after you finish your current project–of building a new jet parallel runway to 12/30 (which will be for landings, so I wouldn’t complain if it’s 10,996, with the takeoffs runway being 12,000).
A 777 can easily land on a 7000 foot runway like Portland.