New MassPort CEO Optimistic About Airport
PHOTO/MATT PILON
MassPort CEO Thomas Glynn, right, talks with Worcester City Manager Michael O'Brien this morning at the DCU Center.
JetBlue, which has been in talks with Worcester and state officials over the past year, likely wouldn't be offering commercial flights out of Worcester Regional Airport until 2014, the Massachusetts Port Authority's (MassPort) new CEO said today at the DCU Center.
That's because the airline needs assurances that the airport's landing system will receive an approximately $30-million upgrade, said Thomas Glynn, who was chosen in September to lead MassPort.
But Glynn, most recently chief operations officer for Partners HealthCare in Boston, said he likes Worcester's chances of landing JetBlue, which has grown significantly at Logan Airport over the past decade.
"We're pretty optimistic that there's a market [in Worcester]," Glynn said.
Glynn also revealed details about JetBlue's potential operation at the airport.
"We've been talking to JetBlue about a couple of flights a day, seven days a week, probably to Florida to get this started," Glynn said.
He said the airline would likely fly its smaller E190 aircraft out of Worcester, which holds 100 passengers. The A320s it flies out of Logan hold 140, he said.
Despite the potential use of a smaller aircraft, Ed Freni, MassPort's director of aviation, said he thinks ticket prices will be comparable to Logan's, maybe even a bit lower.
JetBlue CEO David Barger has visited Worcester several times and held a press conference in August after meeting with business leaders and government officials.
Worcester City Manager Michael O'Brien revealed this morning that JetBlue executives will visit the city again Jan. 23 to meet individually with business leaders and government officials. The public introduction of Barger in August, O'Brien said, was "more macro," while the upcoming visit will be "more tactile."
According To Plan
Though Worcester's airport has been without a commercial passenger carrier since Direct Air halted flights nearly a year ago, Glynn thinks things have gone smoothly since MassPort bought the money-losing airport from the city in 2010.
"We've had a pretty good run in leveraging some relationships and making some improvements and getting some improvements in the pipeline," he said.
The agency has spent about $9 million so far on upgrades to the airport, and is planning another $9 million.
MassPort inked a deal with Rectrix Aviation last year to be a fixed-base operator in Worcester, which means it will provide private jet service and aircraft management and maintenance services.
Rectrix, which is investing $5 million in Worcester, is investing three times that for a larger operation at Hanscom Field in Bedford. Glynn said the deal was an example of MassPort's leverage, as overseer of operations there, as well as Worcester and Logan airports.
"We said that part of doing something with MassPort is doing something with Worcester," Glynn said.
In a Q&A session after his address, Gail Carberry, president of Quinsigamond Community College, told Glynn that the college wants to establish a curriculum for airline mechanics.
Glynn was also asked about access to the airport and if investment would be needed. He said MassPort isn't ruling out road improvement, but he noted that the airport handled as many as 400,000 passengers in the mid-1970s with the same road infrastructure as it has today.
"It's hard to argue you can't get 350,000 without improving access," he said. "It was the same as it is now."
Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly described the type of service JetBlue would offer if the airline decides to come to Worcester. It would offer commercial flights.
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