Boston Sunday Globe
December 23, 2001

Hanscom flight numbers taking off
Corporate flights, charter jets help activity level soar

By Davis Bushnell, Globe Correspondent

BEDFORD -- Corporate and charter jet activity is revving up at Hanscom Field, with the number of those operations increasing dramatically since Sept. 11.

Meanwhile, Shuttle America is delaying until Jan. 15 from Jan. 6 the resumption of service between Hanscom and New York's LaGuardia Airport, said Mark Cestari, spokesman for the regional carrier, which is based in Windsor Locks, Conn. The delay is due to LaGuardia's "not being able to gate us until then."

In October, companies like Lexington-based Raytheon and EMC Corp. of Hopkinton and charter airlines logged 2,865 operations at Hanscom, a 66 percent increase over the same month last year, Richard Walsh, a Massachusetts Port Authority spokesman, told a small turnout at Tuesday night's meeting of the Hanscm Field Advisory Commission in Bedford.

Activity last month declined from October's, but the 2,636 operations still were a 38 percent increase over November 2000.

Those figures "show that Hanscom is doing its job as a reliever [airport] to Logan," Walsh said. Massport owns and operates Hanscom and Logan International Airport.

Others, however, say they're concerned about the increased use of Hanscom by corporate aircraft and charter jets.

"It's a concern because of additional noise -- jets are the noisiest -- other effects on the environment, and traffic," said Sheldon Moll, chairman of the advisory commission and a Bedford selectman. "The question is whether this is going to be a permanent thing."

Walsh said noise and other environmental factors "will be looked at in the ESPR" (Environmental Status and Planning Report) pertaining to the airfield. The report is being refined, and hearings will be held by the conservation commissions of Bedford, Concord, Lexington and Lincoln in late January or early February. Portions of Hanscom are in those four communities. [Note: This paragraph confuses the ESPR with the VMP (Vegetation Management Plan). The VMP will be the subject of conservation commission hearings in Jan/Feb, but it does not address noise impacts -- it is concerned only with the effects of tree-cutting and other vegetation management. The ESPR, which will consider noise impacts, will be issued in draft form by Massport in late spring or early summer; this will be followed by a public review process and the issuance of a final ESPR by year's end. -- mpa]

It's worrisome, but not surprising, that corporate aviation is increasing at Hanscom, said Anna Winter, executive director of Save Our Heritage, a Concord-based historic preservation group.

"Massport, with utter disregard for this impact, has been building up the infrastructure for corporate jets at Hanscom for years," Winter said. "And business jets at Hanscom cause 80 percent of the noise and pollution that are having a devastating impact on the communities and on internationally important historic and natural resources like Minute Man Park and Walden."

Shuttle America, in gearing up for six round trips each business day between Hanscom and LaGuardia, is revamping its security setup at Hanscom.

The airline, Cestari said, recently hired eight security guards to replacde those who had been employed by Argenbright Security of Bosotn, which was dismissed by Massport for security violations at Logan. Some of the guards hired by Shuttle America worked previously for Argenbright, said Cestari.

"As we see it, the Argenbright issue was management oversight, not their employees," he said.

Shuttle America has yet to be dismissed from bankruptcy proceedings in Hartford, but that will have no bearing on the airline resuming LaGuardia service, Cestari said. It had served LaGuardia from Nov. 1 of last year until April 15, when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Nearly a month ago, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court confirmed a reorganzation plan for the airline, under which it will be sold for $1.4 million to Shuttle Acquisition Corp., a unit of Wexford Capital LLC, a privately held equity company located in Greenwich, Conn. Wexford also owns Chataqua Airlines, Inc. of Indianapolis and is a major creditor of Midway Airlines of Morrisville, N.C., which is also in bankruptcy.

A bankruptcy decree, clearing the financial slate for Shuttle America, will not be issued until all conditions of the reorganization plan have been met, said Peggy Johnson, a clerk for the Hartford court.

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