We admire Kevin Dillon, the newly named director of T.F. Green Airport for getting right to the main issue. He says he will push for the speedy extension of the main runway despite the inevitable conflict that will cause with people who live near the airport (which has been there since 1928) and politicians eager to curry favor with them by opposing the extension in spite of the damage to the region’s economy.

And it looksas if he might actually get this essential work done. While genial, Mr. Dillon does not shy away from what he calls “community issues.” He got an extension of the sort he seeks for Green done at the Manchester (N.H.)-Boston Regional Airport, which is now prospering because of it.

Green, though, has been slipping, in part because its short main runway makes it impossible to offer nonstop flights to the West Coast or Europe east of London. Given the area’s population density, location between Boston and New York and relative proximity to Europe, it’s a shame that Green did not start offering regular flights to the Continent long ago.

Mr. Dillon, who most recently has been one of the three deputy executive directors at Orlando International Airport, also has served as director of aviation operations at Logan Airport and acting general manager of New York’s LaGuardia Airport. He has the background and steadfastness to achieve this long-overdue runway extension. That will include pushing the Federal Aviation Administration to get cracking on its final recommendation for the project.

“You need to push,” he said. “My focus coming through the door is to understand where the FAA is on this and to get them to move ahead as quickly as possible.”

Quite right. Improvements at Green in the ’90s, pushed through by the strong leadership of then-Gov. Bruce Sundlun, turned out to be one of the most visionary efforts to import a little fresh prosperity into the state in many years — one that partly offset the disastrous failure to develop a major port at Quonset in a time of burgeoning world trade. Now vision — and strength of character — are needed to take Green to the next level to help individuals and businesses throughout southeastern New England.

Mr. Dillon seems to have those qualities. Kudos to the board of the Rhode Island Airport Corporation for hiring him and showing willingness to take the heat to strengthen Rhode Island and the rest of southeastern New England.