Touching Bases: Teterboro would welcome Boeing 717

Teterboro (N.J.) Airport (TEB) manager Lanny Rider told AIN last month that if Boeing follows through on plans to produce a bizliner version of its 717 at less than 100,000 pounds mtow, the airplane would be welcome at his airport. “Let ’em come on in,” he said. Rider’s employer, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport, restricts 100,000-pound aircraft from using TEB without prior permission. Rider said sports-team charter 737s regularly fly into TEB. The operators submit their weight-and-balance paperwork to confirm that they have, indeed, flown in and out at less than 100,000 pounds. Rider noted that the Boeing Business Jet, with an mtow of 171,000 pounds, is also eligible to use the field if operated at less than 100,000 pounds gross weight. But for a BBJ, this weight restriction severely limits its usefulness. With their high empty weights, “BBJs would only have enough fuel to fly to, say, Stewart Airport [39.3 nm], so it’s not practical,” he said.