Massport seeks new commercial carrier for Hanscom Field
By Davis Bushnell, Globe Correspondent | April 3, 2008

The Massachusetts Port Authority, owner-operator of Hanscom Field, is seeking another commercial carrier to replace Boston-Maine Airways, which ceased operations Feb. 29 at the Bedford airport.

Boston-Maine Airways was the only commercial airline doing business at Hanscom. Its decision to end service between Bedford and Trenton, N.J., was based on a Feb. 1 show-cause order issued by the federal Department of Transportation, said Stacy Beck, spokeswoman for the Portsmouth, N.H.-based airline. Beck declined to discuss the order, then said she's "not sure what the future will hold" concerning a possible resumption of service at Hanscom.

The small airline, which does business as Pan Am Clipper Connection, began serving the Bedford airport in July 2002, and since then had experimented with flights to numerous locations, including Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Bangor, Elmira and White Plans, N.Y., New Haven, and Baltimore-Washington. But Bedford-Trenton proved to be its bread-and-butter route.

William Mosley, a transportation department spokesman in Washington, said the order called into question Boston-Maine's financial fitness and management competence. The airline, he said, recently filed a response, rebutting those charges.

Despite Boston-Maine's departure, Massport spokesman Richard Walsh said the agency is convinced that "Hanscom is an ideal market" for small, regional carriers. "We're hoping to meet soon with other carriers," he said, without elaborating.

Leaders of two activist groups that have long opposed commercial aviation at Hanscom asserted that Boston-Maine's decision is solid evidence that commercial carriers cannot make a go of it.

"Commercial aviation is just not viable at Hanscom," said Sarah Lazarus, spokeswoman and board member of Safeguarding the Historic Hanscom Area's Irreplaceable Resources. Anna Winter, executive director of Save Our Heritage, a Concord-based organization, added, "History proves that commercial aviation doesn't belong at Hanscom Field.

© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.

==========
**NOTICE: In accordance with 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.**
==========