BANGOR, Maine — As travelers return to the friendly skies in pre-pandemic levels, the Bangor International Airport is preparing to close for two days this October.
BGR will close to all air traffic for 48 hours starting on Monday, Oct. 4, through Tuesday, Oct. 5. Regular business is expected to resume the morning of Oct. 6, airport officials say. The shutdown will allow runway construction to take place.
"We do pavement maintenance year-round, but this is an issue we need to address this year," says Bangor airport director Tony Caruso. "This is one of our airport improvement program projects that was approved for grant funding. We need to go in and there's an alkali-silica reaction, which causes pavement deformation."
Caruso says airlines were notified months ago about the runway work and airport closing. The airport will not be contacting passengers about the closure.
"We would refer [passengers] to the air carrier," Caruso adds. "The airport is working directly with all the air carriers to coordinate the [closure] and minimize its impact as much as possible. We encourage the traveling public to contact their airline directly."
NEWS CENTER Maine tried booking a flight into Bangor Monday, Oct. 4 on Delta Airlines. It clearly showed the airport is closed and the flight couldn't be booked to Bangor.
NEWS CENTER Maine also tried booking a flight into Bangor on Tuesday, Oct. 5 with United Airlines. The carrier was ready to make the reservation. It showed no warning the airport will be closed and the flight isn't really available.
Caruso explains, Monday and Tuesday are slower travel days than weekends at the Bangor airport. It's been almost 20 years since the airport had to be closed for maintenance or repair.