Hanscom flight backers speak up
Shuttle America fliers say business line vital

By Davis Bushnell, Globe Correspondent, 6/3/2001

BEDFORD - At first they kept quiet, but now, little by little, supporters of
Shuttle America's flights out of Hanscom Field are beginning to break their
silence.

Two prominent arms contractors, Raytheon Co. of Lexington and Mitre Corp. of
Bedford, are sending employees to Hanscom when flight schedules dovetail
with their travel plans, corporate officials said.

And scores of business consultants and other self-employed business
executives are flying in and out of Hanscom because of convenience,
according to travel agents and Shuttle America, which is expected to resume
its service to LaGuardia Airport in New York City on June 15.

Until recently, Hanscom opponents have taken center stage, saying that
commercial aviation activity at the airport might hurt the area's historic
landmarks. As a result, Shuttle America customers have been gun-shy about
making their voices heard.

That changed May 15, when Edith Sisson stood up at a Bedford meeting of the
Hanscom Field Advisory Commission and told the gathering: ''If you and I
want to fly, we cannot act like the flightless ostrich and bury our heads in
the sand to rationalize that some other community should bear the brunt of
the problems created, in part, by our own needs for an airport.''

Sisson, 40, of Concord, was booed, and the meeting broke up shortly
afterward after the crowd shouted down an airline representative.

A leading opponent, Anna Winter of the Concord-based Save Our Heritage
group, said: ''Businesses and individuals can no longer bury their heads in
the sand. However, we all have a responsibility to future generations to
protect our national park from degradation in the name of profits and
convenience.''

Winter's group and others are appealing a Federal Aviation Administration
ruling giving Shuttle America the green light for serving LaGuardia. The
matter is pending in the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.

Eric Haartz, who lives is Concord and is an Acton business leader, said last
week that he has ''mixed emotions'' about commercial aviation at Hanscom.

''I live under the flight path, so I can sympathize with some of the
opposition. However, it's got to happen somewhere,'' he noted, referring to
the growth of regional aviation.

A few of his employees have used Shuttle America to visit textile makers in
Greensboro, N.C., said Haartz, chief executive of Haartz Corp., one of the
country's leading suppliers of automotive trim, including convertible tops.

Last year, Shuttle America logged in 162,000 passengers at Hanscom, divided
evenly between business and leisure travelers, according to the airline.

While the airline filed for bankruptcy in April, three other carriers,
Boston-Maine Airways, US Airways Express, and Midway Airlines, are waiting
in the wings. Boston-Maine, a unit of Pan American Airways, now a small
regional carrier based in Portsmouth, N.H., intends to begin service this
summer to New Bedford, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket.

Dan Fortman, a Boston-Maine vice president, said the airline realizes that
Hanscom is luring large numbers of people from within the Route 128 beltway.
''We'll put our planes in there and let the awareness continue to build,''
he said.

Some of Raytheon's employees use Hanscom ''when the flight schedules meet
their business requirements,'' said Amy Hosmer, a spokeswoman for Raytheon,
which is one of the largest employers in Massachusetts. She said the company
does not keep track of the actual number of managers who use the airfield.

Mitre, a private business that does electronics research for the US
military, estimates that a small percentage of its 1,800 Bedford-area
employees fly Shuttle America, spokesman Alan Shoemaker said, adding,
''That's because the airline does not provide service to our most frequent
destinations.''

Some job candidates traveling from New York City to Woburn- based Alpha
Industries will use Shuttle America, said George LeVan, director of human
resources for the computer chip manufacturer.

Employees, depending on where they are going, use all airports within
driving distance, including those in Manchester, N.H., and Providence, he
said.

Small business people are usually the ones checking in with them, two local
travel agents said

''We see the same people time after time - those who work for themselves,''
said Petra Garbo, owner of Acton's University Travel.

Dale Strachan of Carlson Wagonlit Travel in Bedford added, ''The people we
see are pretty much computer people from the area.

Travel agencies account for 35 percent of the tickets sold, said Mark
Cestari, Shuttle America's chief spokesman. ''And those who book
reservations with agencies are mostly small business managers and
entrepreneurs who pay for tickets out of their own pockets,'' he said.

James McCurdy, executive director of the North Suburban Chamber of Commerce
in Woburn, said he has heard ''anecdotally'' about companies of all stripes
that support employees flying from Hanscom ''because the convenience of the
field is valuable to them.''

However, many companies shy away from going on the record about Hanscom's
worth, he said. ''The politics of the situation is sensitive.''


This story ran on page 01 of the Boston Globe's Northwest Weekly on
6/3/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.

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