Ground-breaking ceremonies for New Haven Municipal Airport occurred on November 11, 1929. The facility was later dedicated and opened for traffic on August 29, 1931, as the New Haven Municipal Airport. On June 25, 1961, it was renamed in honor of John H. "Jack" Tweed – its first airport manager.

Historical airline service

The first airline to serve New Haven was Li-Con Airways, Inc., (Long Island-Connecticut Airways) of Islip, Long Island, New York. That carrier commenced service on November 10, 1933, and provided passenger and airmail service until July 1934. In the fall of 1934, American Airlines began serving New Haven as a stop on flights between New York and Boston and continued service until 1960. The American service was then replaced by Allegheny Airlines and Allegheny Commuter (with the latter being operated by commuter air carriers Suburban Airlines and Pennsylvania Airlines). Allegheny operated British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven jets into Tweed in the mid-1970s. Eastern Airlines initiated service in 1948 and then left in 1970 due to legal challenges pertaining to a runway extension. Eastern returned briefly from 1972 to 1974 with Boeing 727 and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 "Whisperjet" service nonstop to Baltimore-Washington (BWI), Washington-National (DCA) and Boston. The carrier also offered one-stop service to Miami (MIA) and Atlanta (ATL).

1970s and 1980s

Fixed base operator (FBO) New Haven Airways started scheduled flights in 1978 and became New Haven's hometown airline, NewAir, in 1980. The airline operated flights to New York's JFK and LaGuardia Airports, Philadelphia, Baltimore/Washington International, and Washington National Airports, with de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante and Short 360 commuter turboprop aircraft. NewAir ended all service in 1985.

Competing was Pilgrim Airlines based at Groton–New London, to New York–JFK and LaGuardia, Boston, Washington (DCA) on de Havilland Canada Twin Otters and Fokker F27 turboprops. By the mid-1980s the two airlines merged and were then purchased by Hartford-based Business Express Airlines, which initially flew only from Brainard Airport to Boston and Philadelphia. Business Express established a code-sharing relationship with Delta Air Lines and became a Delta Connection feeder airline in 1985.

In 1987 Hyannis-based Provincetown-Boston Airlines (PBA), a commuter airline for People Express Airlines (which was subsequently merged into Continental Airlines), began flights to New Haven. PBA operating as Continental Express flew Embraer EMB-110s from Tweed to Continental's hub at Newark and also to Hyannis and Nantucket, Massachusetts.

USAir Express (operated by commuter air carriers PSA, Piedmont, Allegheny) flew to Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC area airports, utilizing Shorts 360, Dash-8 100/300, Dornier 328 and Beechcraft 1900 turboprop aircraft.

Jet flights from New Haven to Chicago O'Hare Airport started in 1985–86, initially on Air Wisconsin's BAe-146s operating code sharing service as "United Express" on behalf of United Airlines. From 1991 to 1996, United Airlines Boeing 737-300s and 737-500s flew non-stop to O'Hare. Tweed was also served by Atlantic Coast Airlines operating code sharing service as United Express flying Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia turboprops to Washington Dulles Airport.

Continental Express (flown by PBA) service continued with Beechcraft 1900 and ATR 42 turboprops, while Business Express flights were operated with Saab 340 and Beechcraft 1900 turboprops.

Other small air carriers serving New Haven over the years include Ocean Airlines, Astec Air East, East Hampton Aire, Trans International Express, Trans World Express operated by Pocono Airlines on behalf of Trans World Airlines (TWA), and Northwest Airlink operated by Precision Airlines and Northeast Express Regional Airlines on behalf of Northwest Airlines.

1990s

By the late 1990s service began to decline to the airport. Business Express service ended, as it put its Saab-340s out of service after its acquisition by AMR Corporation. Continental Express flights ended in 1994, returned in 1995, and then left again on December 17, 1997.

21st century

Comair (Delta Connection) began service to HVN in 2004 with three daily flights to Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport using CRJ-200 aircraft. The airline ceased operations at HVN in January 2006.

Pan Am Clipper Connection, operated by Boston-Maine Airways, began non-stop flights to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Hanscom Field, and Pease International Airport on March 8, 2007, using 19-seat Jetstream 31 aircraft. Service ended on July 30, 2007.

This left US Airways Express (Piedmont) as the only airline at Tweed, which in 2015 became American Eagle following the American Airlines-US Airways merger.

American Eagle was the only airline serving New Haven year-round. As of November 29, 2017, PSA replaced Piedmont's Dash 8-100 turboprop service with three daily round trips to and from Philadelphia on Canadair CRJ-200, Canadair CRJ-700 and occasionally Canadair CRJ-900 regional jets.