Departure
91%
vs 95% ▼ 4
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Morristown Municipal Airport is a busy general aviation reliever airport in Morris County, New Jersey, three miles east of downtown Morristown and about 40 miles west of Manhattan. Operated by DM Airports, Ltd, it offers a full ILS approach, a control tower, and a long history stretching back to the early 1930s, making it a well-equipped and historically rich destination for visiting pilots.
Morristown Municipal Airport (KMMU) sits in the Whippany section of Hanover Township in Morris County, New Jersey, three miles east of downtown Morristown and roughly 40 miles west of Manhattan. Operated by DM Airports, Ltd, it is classified as a general aviation reliever airport and is one of the busiest such fields in the country, with a strong mix of piston, jet and charter traffic. For a simulator pilot it offers an interesting combination of a full precision approach, a long and storied history, and a location close to the New York airspace complex.
The airport lies in Morris County, New Jersey, in the Whippany section of Hanover Township, about three miles east of downtown Morristown and around 40 miles west of Manhattan, New York City. It is served by New York Approach and New York Departure control, reflecting its position within the busy New York terminal airspace environment.
Morristown has two physical runways. Runway 05/23 is 5,991 feet long with a hard surface and lighting, and is equipped with an ILS on the runway 23 end. Runway 13/31 is 3,989 feet long, also hard-surfaced and lit, but without an instrument approach.
Morristown Tower operates on 118.1 MHz, which also serves as the CTAF; Ground is on 121.7 MHz. ATIS is broadcast on 124.25 MHz, with clearance delivery available separately and a further clearance/delivery frequency on 121.2 MHz. New York Approach works the airport on 127.6 MHz and New York Departure on 119.2 MHz. Runway 23 is served by an ILS/LOC approach along with RNAV RNP and GPS RNAV approaches, and has a MALSR approach lighting system; runway 05 has a GPS RNAV approach.
Runway 05/23 is the designated noise abatement runway for the airport. A long-standing overnight curfew restricts takeoffs and landings during certain hours, a restriction that dates to a 1969 New Jersey Superior Court ruling brought after noise complaints from surrounding communities about business jet operations.
An airport at Morristown was announced in 1929 and built on land the town had acquired as part of a water company purchase, eventually totalling around 400 acres. It opened in the early 1930s but activity was slow because of the Great Depression, and federal funding provided in 1933 for improvements ran out before construction was complete. The field was considered as an eastern hub for the Zeppelin Company, and Hugo Eckener visited the site in 1936 with Charles E. Rosendahl, but the Hindenburg disaster the following year ended those plans. During the Second World War the airport served as a primary training centre for the army, and the income generated allowed the airport to buy and install hangars by the end of the war. New hangars completed in 1947 attracted companies to the airport and spurred population growth in the area. In 1956 the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that the airport was not subject to Hanover Township zoning laws. In 1969 a Superior Court judge imposed an overnight curfew on takeoffs and landings following noise complaints from residents and surrounding municipalities about business jet traffic. During the 1960s and 1970s, in the Jet Age, the airport was significantly expanded: its main runway was extended from 4,000 feet to 5,998 feet, a new control tower was built, and an ILS was installed, and the field became known as "the VIP stop." Commercial airline service was long sought but never achieved. During his presidency, Donald Trump used the airport for arrivals aboard an Air Force Boeing C-32 operating as Air Force One during visits to his home in Bedminster, New Jersey, about 24 miles to the southwest.
Morristown remains a major general aviation and business aviation centre, hosting large numbers of jet charter operators alongside piston and multi-engine traffic. Two fixed-base operators, Atlantic Aviation and Signature Aviation, serve the field, and it has a customs facility for international arrivals. Several flight schools operate on the airport, including American Flyers, ATP, Certified Flyers, Alpha Aviation and NOVA Aviation. In the year ending July 2022 the airport recorded 110,939 aircraft operations, an average of 304 per day, and had 119 based aircraft comprising single-engine, multi-engine, jet and helicopter types.