Once Martha’s Vineyard Airport manager Sean Flynn was put on leave in September, it was a foregone conclusion that he would not be coming back. The only open question was the terms of his exit.

The announcement this week that Mr. Flynn has resigned under a settlement agreement approved by the airport commission is welcome news. Enough already with the soap opera. It’s time to focus on the business of running an airport.

Some will no doubt balk at the size of the settlement. Mr. Flynn will walk away with two hundred and thirty five thousand dollars, about half the value of the balance of his three-year contract, which had just taken effect in July. But the alternative was litigation, which airport commission chairman Myron Garfinkle correctly sized up as the more expensive option. Quite apart from the legal fees, the airport could ill afford the protracted disruption a lawsuit would have caused.

Perhaps the best development was the commission’s unanimous vote by the seven airport commissioners to approve the settlement, unanimity being a rare occurrence in airport oversight over the past ten years. Consider that Mr. Flynn was hired as manager ten years ago in a four-to-three split decision, and his latest contract was approved by a vote of five to two, just weeks before the Dukes County Commission replaced three of the five airport commissioners who gave him a substantial raise.

Mr. Garfinkle, the chief engineer behind Mr. Flynn’s departure, has worked hard to point the airport in a positive direction and to bring the rest of the commission along with him. The settlement agreement even includes a small gift to the Dukes County Commission, which has tussled with the airport commission for years, preventing Mr. Flynn from suing that body, its treasurer and its manager.

Mr. Flynn does not bear full culpability for the political mess the airport had become, but it was also clear that the airport was not moving forward under his management.

Good for Mr. Garfinkle and his fellow commissioners for taking decisive action to get the airport back on track. This is what oversight is for.