Beverly Regional Airport officials report dip in flight operations, outline runway reconstruction and noise‑mitigation steps

Beverly Regional Airport Manager Gabriel Hannafin told the Town of Danvers Select Board that annual operations fell in 2025 compared with 2024 and laid out a multi‑year runway reconstruction and permitting plan that he and commission leadership say is designed to address safety and operational constraints.

"In 2024, we had over 91,000 operations," Hannafin said. "Year to date we have 58,900 operations — a roughly 26% decrease compared with this time last year — and at the rate we're going I estimate we'll be around 70,000 operations this year." He attributed most of the drop to reduced single‑engine training activity and to changes in instrument approach minimums caused by newly identified obstructions.

Why it matters: The decline reverses more than a decade of year‑over‑year growth that followed the pandemic surge in general‑aviation activity. At the same time, Hannafin said jet traffic has inched up, in part because some corporate jets have diverted from Boston Logan while parts of that airport are under reconstruction. The mix matters because jets and larger aircraft typically generate different noise and safety profiles than…