93% would use Worcester airport if more service was available, 59% for business purposes

Photo | Grant Welker Worcester Regional Airport

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The Worcester Regional Airport has lost all of its commercial service due to the coronavirus pandemic, but 93% of respondents to a survey conducted by Massport and the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce said they would be likely or very likely to use the airport if more direct service was available.

In the same vein, 51.9% of respondents cited lack of destinations as a reason why they don’t already make use of the airport, which serves as an alternative to larger regional airports, like Logan International Airport in Boston or T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, R.I. High prices and lack of direct flights were the second most-frequently cited reasons for not using the airport.

The survey, which was publicly available from Sept. 7 to Oct. 15, polled 1,286 respondents about how and why they do or do not use the struggling airport.

All survey respondents were given the opportunity to list nonstop destinations they would like to have from the Worcester airport, with Chicago, Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Los Angeles as the most frequently-cited options they’d like to see available. A majority of respondents -- 59% -- said they traveled to their preferred destination at least once a year for business purposes.

Notably, two-thirds of respondents said they fly out of the airport at least once a year, for either business or leisure trips, with 33.7% saying they never do.

Florida destinations were the most popular destinations cited by those survey respondents which said they’ve used the airport in the past, with 49% saying they flew to Orlando and 48.5% saying they flew to Ft. Lauderdale. (Respondents could select as many destinations as they wanted.) The second-most popular destination out of Worcester was New York City, which 30% reported traveling to from Worcester, followed by Philadelphia, which 22.3% reported flying to.

These figures, according to the survey summary, indicate there is significant demand for increased service options from the Worcester airport. Such service, the summary said, would also help alleviate traffic in and out of Logan, in particular, while also generating a positive economic impact for the Worcester area.

JetBlue and American Airlines received U.S. Department of Transportation approval in late spring to temporarily suspend service to Worcester through the end of September. JetBlue had previously offered nonstop service from Worcester to New York City, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. American offered nonstop service to Philadelphia. Delta, which offered daily flights to Detroit, suspended its Worcester service as of Oct. 1.