Green’s ‘love-hate’ affair with Logan

By JOHN HOWELL
Posted 7/3/19

Boston’s Logan has long been the big boy on the block and the airport T.F. Green needs to outperform to capture a bigger share of the 7 million-people market they both serve.

Even before …

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Green’s ‘love-hate’ affair with Logan

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Boston’s Logan has long been the big boy on the block and the airport T.F. Green needs to outperform to capture a bigger share of the 7 million-people market they both serve.

Even before construction started on Boston’s “Big Dig” and all that it meant in terms of traffic delays, the theme song at Green has been convenience and the ability to spend less time getting to the airport and bucking long lines at the airport with less stress.

That doesn’t promise to change, even though flights can be less costly from Boston and in many cases more direct than from Green. In a recent interview Iftikhar Ahmad, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Corporation, reiterated some of the advantages of Green, including lower parking rates and access even for those who live closer to Logan.

“Value is the difference,” he said. “Logan may be cheaper in some instances.”

Yet, he adds, “maps lie.” He points out that people living near the Southeast Expressway are physically closer to Logan but between 5:30 and 7:30 a.m. on Mondays and other weekdays are going to find it takes far less time and “less hassle” to fly out of Green.

But Ahmad also views this competitive relationship between the two airports as symbiotic that works to both their advantages. He makes a comparison to Houston’s George Bush International Airport – the Logan equivalent of that city – and Hobby Airport about seven miles from downtown Houston to Green. The two airports, he said, serve a catchment area similar in size to that here of about 6 million people. Hobby, he notes, is home to Southwest Airlines, which first brought its discount fares to the northeast when it started operations at Green in the 1990s, leading to the rapid growth of the airport. Southwest remains Green’s dominant carrier, although Ahmad has successfully introduced discount carriers and expanded destinations at Green. Southwest is also flying out of Logan.

Ahmad has been in discussions with Moxy Airlines as recently as two weeks ago about using Green when David Neeleman – an entrepreneur who has founded four airlines including JetBlue – launches the low-cost airline in 2021. According to the June 17 Bloomberg Report, Neeleman signed a letter of intent for the purchase and leaseback of nine Airbus A220-300s as part of a previously signed order for 60 of the planes.

“The agreement, announced Monday at the Paris Air Show, moves Neeleman a step closer to inaugurating the airline that he’s said will give customers new ways to customize their flight experience, from legroom to food to price. The carrier, he said, will be low-cost “but not austere.” It will compete in a market populated by the four largest U.S. carriers as well as heavy discounters like Spirit Airlines Inc.,” Bloomberg reports.

Whether Moxy will become the Southwest of the future, catapulting Green traffic and adding lots of new destinations, remains to be seen. Yet the premise that Green needs more airline seats and hence more flights is fundamental to Ahmad’s aim to sustain and build upon Green’s economic impact to the state. He points to the most recent study of four years ago showing that the airport has a $2.6 billion impact and is attributable to 22,400 jobs in the state.

According to Bloomberg, Neeleman plans to begin hiring staff in earnest late this year.

“He has revealed few details of his plan but has said the carrier likely will be based near a technology center other than Silicon Valley. Neeleman’s past startups include JetBlue Airways Corp., Canada’s WestJet Airlines Ltd. and Brazil’s Azul SA,” the report reads.

Might Green be the Hobby Airport of Moxy? Ahmad is not venturing a guess.

Nonetheless, he views the relationship between Logan and Green as working for both with Green as a “strong medium-hub” playing off of as well as augmenting Logan. Green, he points out, offers 31 nonstop destinations, a number that he is focused on enhancing as compared to Logan – which has more than 120.

“Naturally,” he said, “there is competition [for market share].” However, he notes, Green plays the role of the “reliever” for Logan and “they are good for us.”

He doesn’t see the Manchester, NH Airport as playing the same role or being a competitor to Green. Green, with its highway and rail access, is better situated to serve the catchment area, he reasons.

How does he see this playing out?

“We will be very selfish for Rhode Island,” Ahmad vowed.

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  • Waymoore

    Try starting with better roads to get to the Airport!

    Thursday, July 11, 2019 Report this