Massport looks to expand Logan's international service
By Dave Demerjian
Boston Business Journal, December 8, 2006

Eager to attract global businesses and compete with US airports offering nonstop flights to fast-growing Asian and South American markets, Massport has launched an aggressive program to boost international service from Boston.

Logan currently serves 33 international destinations, up from 23 in 2001, but lacks nonstop service to South America or China, and is the largest US city without a direct flight to Tokyo. And although Logan has added flights to Rome and Manchester, UK, in recent years, it has lost nonstop service to Brussels and San Salvador.

While such hub airports as Atlanta and Detroit feed their international flights with passengers connecting from other markets, Logan has no dominant carrier, making demand for international service more dependent on the local population.

As a result, Logan is lagging. New York's JFK and Newark airports serve 89 and 65 international markets respectively, and Washington/Dulles 44. Atlanta, home to Delta Airlines' largest hub, serves 68 international destinations, and Northwest Airlines offers nonstops to Manila, Tokyo, and Taipei from its gateway in Detroit. "We're underserved in Asia, India, and Latin America," admits Yil Surehan, manager of route development for Massport.

Surehan says Logan will add new nonstop service to Glasgow and Dublin next year and to Beijing beginning in 2008, and is engaged in talks to bring Brussels, Madrid, and Tokyo nonstops to Boston in the near future.

For Boston business travelers, a dearth of direct flights means more layovers and longer travel times. Allan Huntley, CEO of Peabody-based Abacus Travel, estimates that just over a quarter of his clients' international trips from Boston this year required a connection at another US airport. And he says a "fairly high" percentage of those flying nonstop to Europe connected at a hub there before reaching their final destination.

EMC Corp's employees, 8,000 of whom are based in Massachusetts, regularly travel to destinations without direct service from Boston, including Bangalore, Hong Kong, Sao Paulo, Singapore, and Rio de Janeiro, says company spokesman Patrick Cooley. With connections adding an average of two to three hours to international itineraries, he sees Beijing, Brussels, and Tokyo as three destinations where nonstops from Logan would be especially helpful for EMC employees traveling on business.

Surehan is touting the area's booming health care and biotech indsutries to lure both US and foreign carriers to Logan. "We're looking at historical traffic and demographic data and working with different business groups to make a very compelling case," he says, adding that with the nation's fifth highest per-captia GDP and an above-average proportion of business travelers, Boston lends itself to the lucrative, year-round business routes coveted by airlines.

Christa Bleyleben, executive director of the Massachusetts Office of International Trade and Development, says accssibility to international markets is an important factor in attracting new companies to the area, but it's part of a larger discussion. "The level and frequency from Logan definitely comes up," she says. "It's just one of many issues being considered."

Persuading the financially fragile airline industry to roll the dice on new service from Logan hasn't been easy. "Back in 1998, when things were booming, United and American were both talking about nonstops to Tokyo," says Abacus' Huntley. "But now, the airlines are being extremely cautious, and there's only so much Massport can do."