NAHANT — Flying was the last thing people thought would skyrockets post-quarantine; yet in addition to increased air travel, Boston’s Logan Airport, in conjunction with the state port authority (MassPort), is suggesting changes to a flight path that Nahant residents believe will add even more traffic over the island.
In a letter dated Sept. 9, Town Manager Antonio Barletta spoke of an increased number of flights seen over Nahant to MassPort CEO Lisa Wieland. Due to changes in flight path 22L, planes are more frequently being sent over Nahant, he said, and they often create a disturbance.
It was projected by MassPort that the changes to the flight path leading to runway 22L should have no effect on Nahant, which Barletta said was far from the case.
The town believes that the suggested changes to RNAV 22L will result in the flight path being much closer to Nahant and will in turn worsen noise impact.
Nahant’s location and proximity to the airport already creates a flood of air traffic over the town, as aircrafts approach runways 22L and 22R. Cape Air is regularly seen passing over Nahant as well as JetBlue’s E190.
“Given Nahant’s close proximity to Boston Logan, the town already experiences a lot of noise from planes, and we believe that this proposed change will only exacerbate the issue,” Barletta said in a public letter to residents dated Sept. 22.
MassPort held their own information session on Thursday to discuss the results of a study on the proposed flight path changes, which was conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology International Center for Air Transportation.
State Sen. Joan Lovely attended the virtual meeting, expressing her worry for the plan’s impact on North Shore cities and towns. The aircraft are not only creating a noise problem, she said, but it is an environmental and health problem as well, as they reportedly dump fuel over the towns they constantly fly over.
Barletta is asking residents to support his grievance against MassPort on the town’s website, where residents can sign a letter in opposition to the proposed changes to flight path 22L. The deadline to sign is October 15.
Hannah Chadwick can be reached at [email protected].
