The primary Portland International Jetport runway will be closed starting at 8 a.m. next Monday morning, remaining in effect until June 13.
The renovation of the main runway, which most traffic to the airport takes off from and lands on, will include resurfacing and upgrading the runway with LED lighting, according to Zachary Sundquist, the airport’s assistant director.
During the renovation period, air traffic will use the Jetport’s secondary north-south runway. The surrounding areas of Portland, South Portland, Scarborough and Westbrook will be affected by the air traffic and flight path changes needed to use the secondary runway.
The airport’s instrument landing system will be down during this period as well, which could lead to significant delays, or even cancellations, if visibility is too low to allow visual approaches.
Later this spring, starting on May 16 and ending on June 13, the airport will be refurbishing the intersection of both the primary and secondary runways. Both runways will be closed to incoming and outgoing airplane traffic between 10:30 p.m. and 5:45 a.m., but will continue to accommodate helicopter traffic.
Jetport administrators are working to ensure that incoming and outgoing flights are scheduled around planned maintenance times, Sundquist said.
More information about the planned renovations can be found on the Jetport’s website.
Earlier this year, the Jetport announced three new locations it will carry flights to this summer: Portland-based Elite Airways will be flying to St. Augustine, Florida, in the Jacksonville metro area and bringing back flights to Vero Beach, Florida. Southwest will run the airport’s first flight to Nashville, Tennessee, beginning in June.
It is also working to expand to accommodate international flights in the future, after it saw a surge in new passengers as the COVID vaccine became available and the travel prohibitions were scrapped, which encouraged more to take flights to and from Maine.