History
The first airplane landed at what is now Trenton-Mercer Airport in 1907, in what was then Alfred Reeder's farm field, just off of Bear Tavern Road in Ewing. Twenty-two years later in 1929 Skillman Airport was opened to the public.
During World War II the nearby General Motors plant ceased producing civilian vehicles and began making TBF Avenger bombers for the United States Navy. Skillman Airport expanded to accommodate test-flights of this aircraft, and after the airport returned to county control following the end of the war it was renamed Mercer County Airport.
Airport Air Traffic Control operations based in the control tower were 6 AM to Midnight during the 1980s and early 1990s. Since January 1994, tower operations have been shortened to 6 AM to 10 PM.
In 1995 the airport's name was changed from Mercer County Airport to Trenton-Mercer Airport in an effort to more closely identify it with the city of Trenton (the capital of New Jersey and county seat of Mercer County).
On March 11, 1998 an NWS/FAA Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) became operational at the airport, replacing the human weather observers which had previously reported weather conditions.
For many years the county has had plans to expand the airport and attract more commercial airlines. These plans have been opposed by residents of suburban housing tracts in Ewing, Lawrence, Hopewell, Lower Makefield, Pennington and Yardley (some of which are in Pennsylvania, across the Delaware River). Most of these developments were built after the airport.
In 1994, as a cost-cutting measure, the Mercer County Airport Police and Fire Department was disbanded and replaced by the Mercer County Sheriff's Office (police) and ProTec Fire Services (Aircraft Fire Rescue). The fire department was initially lead by Chief James Lonergan, who was previously was the director of aircraft rescue at Philadelphia International and Boston Logan Airport.
He was replaced, in 1997, by Mike Schwartz, who currently serves as an elected Ward Councilman in Delran Township. Chief Schwartz was also assigned as the Director of Fire Rescue at Morristown Municipal Airport in New Jersey. Following his retirement, he was replaced by Jim West at Trenton (who previously worked with the Space Shuttle program), and Morristown Municipal contracted with Rural-Metro Fire Service.
In March 2013, the FAA announced it will close the airport's control tower due to the 2013 Federal Sequester and resultant budget cuts. On April 5, 2013, the FAA announced it will delay the closing of the airport's control tower until June 15, 2013
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