The return of commercial passenger air traffic to Central Massachusetts is just three days away as workers prepare Worcester Regional Airport for JetBlue’s launch of daily flights to Florida.
JetBlue will debut Thursday with one daily flight each to Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. The flights will mark the end of a nearly 20-month traffic drought since discount carrier DirectAir stopped all flights before it filed for bankruptcy. The first flight, for Fort Lauderdale, will leave Worcester on Thursday afternoon. The first flight to Orlando will take off Friday morning at 7:30.
Late last week, workers were preparing the airport concourse with JetBlue signage.
In late September, JetBlue and the airport received a financial boost from the federal government to help promote the new flights. The Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), which operates the airport, said the Worcester facility was awarded a $350,000 Small Community Air Service Development grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The money will be used to implement a targeted marketing and advertising campaign to promote the JetBlue flights and re-establish Worcester as a viable commercial air service market.
JetBlue has also hired 19 Worcester-based crew members, company president Dave Barger told a gathering in Worcester last month.
Read more
