Starting this summer, JetBlue Airways will begin running seasonal nonstop flights between the Vineyard and Boston. JetBlue announced Tuesday that service will begin June 17, with daily flights through Sept. 7.
Ongoing internal clashes at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport are now focusing on an unseen, but costly presence at meetings of the airport commission: legal counsel. Two Boston attorneys routinely participate by phone at a cost of $525 an hour.
A mechanic by trade but a pilot by passion, Dan Wilson can be found roaming the skies when he’s not busy taking a wrench to a faulty airplane engine, or completing annual inspections.
The Martha's Vineyard Airport Commission has called a special meeting in executive session for next Wednesday following a domestic disburbance involving the airport manager.
The Dukes County commission voted Wednesday to appoint two new airport commissioners, ousting longtime commissioner John S. Alley and Benjamin L. Hall Jr.
A Martha's Vineyard Airport employee is at the center of a tangled web of charges and countercharges, including a complaint filed with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.
Expanding transportation services among airlines, ferries, buses and trains have made the Vineyard more accessible than ever this summer.
Four airlines are now operating summer service between the Island and three major metropolitan areas. And two months ago train service began between Boston and the Cape that connects with a shuttle to the Steamship Authority.
The Martha’s Vineyard airport commission has the authority to establish salaries for its employees independently of other county employees salaries, an attorney for the Dukes County commission said. In a letter sent by email to county manager Martina Thornton on Dec. 11, Darren Klein, an attorney with Kopelman and Paige wrote: “In my opinion, as long as the airport commission has sufficient funds appropriated through the enterprise fund or otherwise, the airport commission has the authority . . . to fix salaries as it sees fit.”
As the Island starts to transition from summer crowds to autumn quiet, the Steamship Authority is reporting that traffic was up compared with last year.
“The summer was good; the traffic has been good,” Steamship Authority general manager Wayne Lamson told the Gazette this week.
June passenger traffic to the Vineyard was up by 4.7 per cent; July passenger traffic saw a decrease of 1.9 per cent; and August traffic was up by 7.2 per cent compared with 2011, according to Steamship Authority data. Passenger traffic is up 4.6 per cent for the year to date.
