By Sunayana Prabhu
WALL – Monmouth Executive Airport will close its main runway for a month this fall for a major repaving and resurfacing project. The facility’s management posted a temporary closure notice on its website for Sept. 14 to Oct. 15, noting that helicopter operations and 24/7 hangar access will continue throughout the construction.
The timing of the closure is meant to limit disruption to travelers and pilots, terminal manager Megan Cook said, as the runway work is scheduled just after the airport’s busiest stretch of the year.
“Depending on the day in our busiest season, we get around 45 jet arrivals a day,” Cook said, noting that peak traffic typically runs from mid-June to the beginning of September. Traffic slows after Labor Day, she said, making the September to October window less disruptive than a summer shutdown.
Monmouth Executive Airport has one main runway, a single strip that will be resurfaced as part of the upcoming project.The repaving follows scrutiny of the airport’s condition and future.
Between 2023 and 2025, the Monmouth County Board of County Commissioners explored acquiring the airport. County officials discussed reassessing the property’s long-term use. Airport owner Alan Antaki opposed the move and maintained he had no intention of selling or developing the airport property.
The property consists of 745 acres, approximately 350 of which the town officially zoned as airport land.
Antaki, through the Wall Herald Corp., purchased the former Allaire Airport in 2013 from the estate of Ed Brown, a self-taught aviator and Navy pilot who built the airport in 1938. Since the purchase, Antaki has invested in upgrades to accommodate modern private jets.
In a March 20, 2025, Two River Times article (“Monmouth Executive Airport Clash Resolved”), Antaki said that, instead of spending “hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawyers,” he wanted to “invest millions in the airport.”
In 2025, the airport secured a $1.7 million state grant that dissuaded the county from pursuing eminent domain after months of dispute. The grant from the New Jersey Department of Transportation was part of the 2025 state budget for runway repairs and enhancements.
On a brief phone call Sept. 1, Antaki confirmed that the state funding now allows him to move ahead with infrastructure work. Antaki said he was also grateful to the Wall Township administration, mayor and council for assistance with permits.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the improved runway is scheduled for Sept. 14.
“The most critical aspect of an airport is its runway,” Antaki said. At the same time, he is also gearing up to meet the airport’s potential as a mini aviation hub, especially as large developments such as the upcoming Netflix film studio at Fort Monmouth advance. “The next thing we’re going to do is probably build hangars,” he said.
The article originally appeared in the September 10 – 16, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
