Airline pondering a permanent departure

By Davis Bushnell, Globe Correspondent, 12/15/2002

Boston-Maine Airways will decide by the end of the month whether to continue an abbreviated schedule at Hanscom Field or fly away to a more viable venue, according to a top executive of the Portsmouth, N.H.-based carrier.

''In taking a close look at things, we're coming to the conclusion that many people are driving to the destinations that we serve from Hanscom,'' said Dan Fortnam, the airline's marketing vice president.

Boston-Maine landed here five months ago, confident, Fortnam said, that it could pick up a lot of business because of the airfield's convenient location and the declining service of Shuttle America.

But spotty demand for Boston-Maine flights to Martha's Vineyard, White Plains, N.Y., Atlantic City, and other locales soon dashed the airline's
optimism. In October, for example, the last month for which there is data, Boston-Maine had only 54 flights and 37 passengers from Hanscom.

Its posted schedule now includes four round trips Monday through Friday between Hanscom and White Plains, N.Y.; two round trips Monday through
Saturday to Portsmouth; and one round trip Monday through Friday to St. John, New Brunswick.

Area selectmen who head two key committees monitoring activities at Hanscom expressed little surprise or concern about the possibility that Boston-Maine will jettison its service to and from Hanscom.

Sheldon Moll of the Hanscom Area Towns Committee - comprised of selectmen from Bedford, Concord, Lexington, and Lincoln, the four communities adjoining Hanscom - and Peter Enrich of the Hanscom Field AdvisoryCommission said they are much more concerned about how the state willevaluate the draft of a 2005-2015 environmental impact study on Hanscomconducted by the Massachusetts Port Authority, owner-operator of the airfield.

The state's Executive Office of Environmental Affairs is expected to release its findings on the draft late tomorrow. State officials could approve the
preliminary study as written or ask Massport to make revisions or to start over again.

Moll, chairman of the Bedford Board of Selectmen, and Enrich, a Lexington selectman, said they're hopeful that environmental affairs officials will
have considered carefully public comments made at a series of 10 meetings this fall.

Many individuals who spoke out against the Massport draft claimed, among other things, that the agency underestimated the impact Hanscom will have in the next decade on air quality, noise levels, and traffic along Route 2A.

Massport is maintaining that its estimates are accurate and that effects on the environment will be minimal.

While Massport officials had prepared for criticism of its environmental study draft, they were caught off-guard last week by the report that
Boston-Maine is wavering on continued service at Hanscom.

''It's news to me,'' said Richard Walsh, a Massport spokesman. ''Obviously, we wish they'd stay and find markets that would sustain them.''

Moll, however, said any news suggesting that there could be ''a reduction in activity [at Hanscom] is a welcome sign.''

Enrich said, ''Boston-Maine has not been one of my big concerns. Because they've been so inactive, they've provided some comic relief to big
concerns, such as what Shuttle America is up to and whether another big player will show up at Hanscom.

''And then,'' Enrich continued, ''there are even bigger challenges like corporate jet and time-share jet activity and the threat of cargo operations
coming in here.''

Shuttle America, which operates as US Airways Express and is now based at Fort Wayne, Ind., International Airport, is down to six round trips a day
between Hanscom and Trenton, N.J. It began serving the airfield in September 1999, and once also had service to New York City, Philadelphia, and Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.

Scott Durgin, Shuttle America's chief executive, couldn't be reached last week for comment on the airline's current plans. He said nearly three months ago, though, that the airline expected ''to continue to be [at Hanscom] for some time.''

This story ran on page N1 of the Boston Globe on 12/15/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.

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