Westerly State Airport

Westerly State Airport is a public use airport in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. It serves the town of Westerly and is located 2 nmi southeast of its central business district. It is primarily a general aviation airport, but there is also scheduled airline service to Block Island provided by New England Airlines.

As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 11,201 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 8,804 enplanements in 2009, and 11,402 in 2010. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2023–2027 in which it is categorized as a non-hub primary commercial service facility.

Westerly State Airport is one of six active airports operated by the Rhode Island Airport Corporation. The other five airports include T.F. Green State Airport, Newport State Airport, North Central State Airport, Quonset State Airport, and Block Island State Airport.

History
Westerly State began as a grass strip in the 1920s, and became the second state-owned airport in the United States (after T.F. Green Airport) in the 1940s. The airport was paved and expanded when it became a U.S. Navy base during World War II, due to its prime location halfway between Boston and New York City.

Facilities and aircraft
Westerly State Airport covers an area of 321 acre at an elevation of 81 ft above mean sea level.

It has two runways with asphalt surfaces:


 * Runway 7/25 is 4010 by
 * Runway 14/32 is 3960 by

In 2005, US$3400000 2005 in federal funding was allocated to repair and improve the main runway and taxiways. As of November 2006, improvements were finished and the main runway is open.

For the 12-month period ending February 13, 2020,, the airport had 18,617 aircraft operations, an average of 51 per day: 54% general aviation, 46% air taxi, and <1% military. At that time there were 29 aircraft based at this airport: 25 single-engine, 3 multi-engine, and 1 helicopter.

Accidents at or near WST

 * On September 5, 1999, a New England Airlines Piper PA-32 Cherokee Six crashed after takeoff from Westerly into an open field beyond the departure end of the runway when the pilot lost control of the aircraft and stalled during a turn. There were 3 fatalities out of the 5 occupants on board.