Worcester Regional Airport Vies with Logan, Eyes More Flights

There's an airline war going on in Massachusetts, with Delta Air Lines and JetBlue duking it out to be Boston Logan International Airport's top carrier.

But Worcester Regional Airport which, like Logan, is owned by the Massachusetts Port Authority, appears to be staying out of the fray ... and local airport boosters want to be sure that it remains on the radar.

"We've been seeing the expansion at Logan, and we want to make sure that Worcester Regional Airport is part of that conversation," said State Rep. Daniel M. Donahue in an interview.

Donahue recently wrote a letter with State Rep. John J. Mahoney requesting a meeting with Massport officials on "ways to grow the volume of daily flights from Worcester Regional Airport," believing such a discussion "is timely in light of Massport's recent announcements for Logan Airport."

"We've seen an uptick in growth (at Worcester) and more flights in the last few years," Donahue continued. "But I think there's a lot more opportunity that we haven't taken advantage of."

Mahoney agreed there was "an opportunity for more."

"The question is how we can leverage some of the Boston activity with Worcester. There are times when they are maxed out, and (Worcester) is a good alternative and we have to support it too," Mahoney said.

Growth at Logan, Worcester

JetBlue and Delta Air Lines are competing to be Boston's busiest carrier in 2020, with the Atlanta-based Delta last year announcing plans to offer more than 150 daily departures from Logan Airport by March, representing a 25% increase in flights compared to 2019 and making Boston one of its hubs.

The airline's "massive expansion," according to The Boston Globe, takes over nearly all of Terminal A.

But JetBlue, which has reigned as the airline with the most daily departures from Logan for several years, isn't giving up without a fight.

"We are committed to winning in Boston," JetBlue President Joanna Geraghty told investors in July, according to media reports. "We see a clear preference for JetBlue."

According to WCVB News, JetBlue has a goal of 200 daily departures from Boston in the coming years and plans to add its first European service with flights to London in 2021. JetBlue did not respond to requests for comment.

A third carrier, American Airlines Group, is also expanding at Logan, announcing the addition of nine new flights from Boston this year.

"We've added a lot of service recently," said American spokesperson Nichelle Barrett. "We've done a lot within this past year, and just want to continue to be strong and fly the places that our customers want to go."

Roughly 60 miles away, the three airlines have another presence.

JetBlue added a flight from Worcester to New York City in May 2018, expanding upon its service to Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

American began service in October 2018 with two daily flights to Philadelphia. However, it reduced its schedule to one flight per day, four days a week, in June. The airline cited a lack of demand for its service.

Delta began flights to Detroit in August 2019.

Worcester Regional Airport Director Andrew Davis said that carriers like to see airplanes at least 80% full, or with load factors of 80. Worcester Regional Airport had an average load factor of 76.5 in 2019, according to the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Load factors for specific flights are closely guarded secrets and were not divulged by airlines or those interviewed.

To be fair, from the 20,000-foot view, the Worcester growth is significant.

Worcester Regional Airport had no commercial carriers before JetBlue inaugurated its Florida service in 2013. Massport has also invested $100 million in the airport, including everything from clearing trees to installing a $32 million Category III landing system that enables flights to land in low visibility. It has also launched a $300,000 advertising campaign to market the airport.

The efforts appear to have paid off.

Davis said the airport has increased growth by 150% in less than two years. Massport Board Chairman Lew Evangelidis noted that the economic impact of Worcester Regional Airport has roughly doubled in the last seven years. A 2012 MassDOT study found the airport had a $51.4 million economic benefit; a 2019 study cited a $96.7 million benefit.

And comparing Logan with Worcester Regional Airport is not exactly apples-to-apples: Roughly 40 million people flew out of Logan last year, 196,000 flew out of Worcester.

Questions of leverage?

But the growth at Logan and the talk of "leverage" has raised the question, grumbled by many in Central Massachusetts, whether Massport is effectively leveraging Worcester when it negotiates with airlines looking to expand at Logan.

"I think we need to consistently engage in hard-nosed negotiations with the airlines and be reinforcing why and how Worcester airport plays into the state's short- and long-term economic, environmental and transportation objectives," said Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Timothy P. Murray in response to the question. "We can't simply be saying yes to airline expansion at Logan unless we're satisfied we've had those hard-nosed negotiations."

Massport defended its record.

"We are effectively leveraging Worcester with the investments we've made," said Davis. "And in just the last less than two years or 18 months, we've grown (Worcester) by three flights and two carriers," Davis said. "We're already leveraging, encouraging them to establish themselves and add flights."

It's also not simply a question of saying that, in order to expand at Logan, a carrier needs to add a flight at Worcester.

Federal Aviation Administration guidelines essentially require all air carriers using an airport to be treated equally.

"Classification or status as tenant or signatory shall not be unreasonably withheld by any airport provided an air carrier assumes obligations substantially similar to those already imposed on air carriers in such classification or status," according to FAA guidelines enacted in 2014.

"I don't think we want to force airlines to go to Worcester Regional Airport," said Massport spokesperson Jennifer Mehigan. "We spent $100 million (at Worcester) and made it extremely attractive in a number of ways - we want airlines to fly there because they want to, as they should - because it's an attractive airport on its own."

But "force" is perhaps too strong a word.

"There has been encouragement by Massport that if you want our cooperation in terms of expanding in Boston, our ability to accommodate you would be enhanced if you looked at Worcester," said Michael Angelini, former chairman of the board at Massport. "We took a statewide view - there's nothing untoward about that, or improper; it's entirely appropriate. I believe that's how Massport interested carriers like JetBlue, American, et al., to come to Worcester."

But Angelini said government cannot regulate for-profit airlines to the extent that it once did.

Moreover, Worcester Regional Airport has evolved: Three airlines have bet on Worcester, now they have to make those bets pay off.

"The question is how do you get from a point of instigating people to come here, to getting airlines to recognize it's valuable and profitable to be here," Angelini said.

Chicken-vs.-the-egg

So how do you convince an airline to invest in Worcester?

Massport said that the answer is more passengers.

"What's critical for us is showing that, is filling the airlines that we've got," said Davis. "If we can be successful in doing that, we can provide more opportunities from the airlines we've got and turn heads from other airlines that are flying out of the region."

Evangelidis agreed.

"We've got to get people to utilize the flights we've got," Evangelidis said. "Everywhere I go I get people who come up and share their experiences (at Worcester). It's overwhelmingly a positive experience."

Others emphasize more flights at more convenient times.

"We believe that doubling or tripling the flights through Worcester will provide long-term sustainability for our airport, substantially ease congestion at Logan Airport and will advance the commonwealth's economic development, connectivity and environmental objectives," Mahoney and Donahue wrote.

Angelini agreed, although noting it would also take an intrepid airline CEO to make a commitment to Worcester.

"I think the answer is trying to convince airlines to have more convenient flights in and out of Worcester," Angelini said. "It seems to me that some airport executives need to get out of the Logan box and think of this as a great market. It is a great market and more and more people are traveling and more and more people are disgusted with getting to Boston."

But as in many transportation issues, it's a bit of a chicken-vs.-the-egg situation: Existing flights won't be full if they are inconvenient, but to have convenient times means the existing flights must be full.

The future

Nevertheless, all those interviewed saw a growing future for the airport.

"They're not adding any runways at Logan ... every square inch is utilized," said Mahoney.

Both Angelini and Davis noted that air travel is increasing and projected to continue to increase in the future. Moreover, Logan is geographically confined, and nobody's exactly building new airports anymore in the northeast. Then there is the congestion in Boston that is soon to be exacerbated by major construction projects on the Mass Pike.

"I think it will be a great opportunity because getting to Worcester for people will be a lot easier than going to Boston - it's a period of opportunity," Angelini said.

Approximately 660,000 people live closer to Worcester Regional Airport than any other airport, and 1 million people live equidistant from Worcester as another airport, Davis said. These people took 3.1 million flights last year, Davis said, but 84% of them flew out of Logan.

And roughly 75% of passengers flying out of Worcester have local ZIP codes, Davis said.

"Think of how full those airlines would be if we emphasized Worcester as a destination," Davis said. "It shows an opportunity ... Massport owns the airport but the community owns the responsibility to fill the planes. We need to figure out collectively how we can promote and get people to fly out of ORH ... get the business community, the political community and other community leaders to make sure that we can make this a successful airport."

And opportunity and a collective commitment to ORH was something that all agreed on.

"While we've made some progress with JetBlue, Delta and American over 10 years there's still a lot more work to do and a lot more opportunity," said Murray. "With some of the recent increasing concerns around congestion and the transportation situation, Worcester Regional Airport can and should be part of the solution. And that's going to require state and elected officials, business leaders who need to make sure and play a role in advocating that Massport Aviation and the airlines themselves should look at the environmental, economic development and transportation benefits of Worcester."

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