Air Traffic Comes Down Slightly From Recent Records

Summer commercial air traffic at Martha’s Vineyard Airport has leveled off for the first time in several years, but still remains close to recent historic peaks. 

For the last four years, the number of people flying in and out of the Island airport has steadily climbed, breaking traffic records along the way. But for the first time in five years, the combined passenger totals in June, July and August saw a slight dip, from nearly 67,000 people in 2025 to about 64,000 people in 2026. 

The dip wasn’t a major concern for airport director Geoff Freeman, and the overall total was still the second highest tally in the last five years.

“Overall, it was fairly steady,” said Mr. Freeman. 

But the changes could be a sign of changing travel patterns.

The airport did see dips in traffic in July and August of this year when compared to 2025. July, which had 21,805 passengers, dropped by 7.4 per cent and August, with 30,627, fell 5.10 per cent. June was up 6 per cent.

Three major airlines fly into the Vineyard in the summer, along with year-round airline Cape Air and Tradewind, a smaller airline.

JetBlue was running fewer flights this summer, which may have contributed to the dip of a little more than 5,000 passengers. American Airlines did have an uptick, but the company flies smaller planes on the Vineyard, which meant there wasn’t a huge increase. Delta saw slightly more passengers, 4 per cent, in the summer months. 

Cape Air had a small drop, and Tradewind saw nearly 900 more passengers this summer.

At the same time, private, military and other non-commercial summer flights reached a peak in the last five years. 

These flights are measured differently than commercial, so direct comparisons are difficult. Non-commercial flights are counted by the number of times a plane contacted the air traffic control tower for landings and take offs. 

In the summer months this year, non-commercial planes, which include charter flights, private jets, personal planes and military aircraft, called the tower 24,450 times. That was 1,000 more calls than the year prior, which could signal the start of a shift towards more private flights.

“I would say there is a lean toward corporate, private travel charters,” said Mr. Freeman. 

For Bob Rosenbaum, the chair of the airport commission, the summer travel numbers signaled a healthy year.

“Overall I would say from the commission standpoint, it went extremely well,” he said. 

Mr. Rosenbaum believed some of the decreases in enplanements were due to weather and other cancellations. Flights to and from the Vineyard are often delayed when there are issues at major hubs, such as New York and Boston. Steamship Authority travel was also down this summer.

This summer did bring a jump in jet fuel sales. August of this year was the single highest-selling month in the last 10 years, according to data from the airport.

A little more than 438,000 gallons of jet fuel were sold at the airport in August, up from 393,000 gallons in August of the prior fiscal year.

Mr. Freeman said some of the larger corporate jets were going longer distances, prompting them to fuel up here. 

As traffic descends from the summer peak, the airport continues its work to renovate the terminal that straddles the Edgartown-West Tisbury town line. The airport received a $15 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration in 2024, and started construction in 2025. 

When the project wraps up, potentially next year, the airport will be doubled in size, and the departures area will be enclosed. People waiting for their flights to board currently sit under a tent parked alongside the tarmac. 

Contractors are in the process of enclosing the roof line on the addition, and will then move to the interior for the winter. 

“We will hopefully be up and running and ready for the summer season next year,” Mr. Freeman said. “It is going smoothly…There’s been nothing other than some weather delays.”