Hanscom flights up after Sept. 11
Logan woes, business jet popularity cited

by Stephanie Stoughton, Globe Staff
December 1, 2001, Page C1

Throngs of corporate-plane travelers abandoned Boston's Logan Airport after
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, while business traffic at the smaller
Hanscom Field in Bedford soared to record levels.

Business-jet flights at Hanscom rose 9 percent to 1,747 in September from a
month earlier, even though the regional airport closed for a week following
the national crisis, according to new figures from the Massachusetts Port
Authority. Perhaps more significantly, Hanscom's corporate-jet traffic
surpassed Logan's business flights that month for the first time in at least
a decade. Although Logan made a step toward recovery in October, Hanscom
outpaced the larger airport in business-traffic growth.

The shift is due in part to the boom in companies sharing the costs of jet
service through time shares and fractional ownership, Massport officials and
aviation executives said. Even before Sept. 11, Hanscom was luring more
business flights because it offered faster in-and-out service for fliers as
well as a number of perquisites for pilots, executives, and other frequent
travelers.

"At Hanscom Field, you have pilot lounges and recreation centers," said
Richard Walsh, a spokesman for Massport, which operates both airports.
"Rental cars are very accessible, and you're not in downtown Boston. So
there are amenities there that you wouldn't find at Logan."

Since the terrorist attacks, the regional airport has attracted another wave
of corporate travelers skittish about flying and seeking to avoid the new
inconveniences of commercial airlines. Today, long lines often form inside
the nation's largest airports because of tightened security measures. And
major carriers have cut routes and reduced flight frequency, contributing to
downtime for passengers.

"Sept. 11 has had a definite impact," said Michael Foliot, chief executive
of FlightTime, a Waltham air-charter broker that arranges flights primarily
out of smaller airports like Hanscom. "People are looking for an alternative
means of travel."

At Hanscom, the recent growth in corporate flights has taken even airport
officials by surprise. In October, the airport's business-jet numbers surged
to a record 2,865, up 64 percent on a month-to-month basis.

Logan's corporate flights rose 42 percent to 2,311 in October. But that did
not make up for declines in business traffic over the summer, followed by a
sharp drop from 2,825 flights in August to a low 1,623 in September. Unlike
Hanscom, Logan does not list corporate flights by type of aircraft, though
Massport officials said the bigger airport's business traffic is largely
made up of company-owned and private-charter jets.

The rush on chartered planes and shared-jet ownership has been a boon for
corporate aviation firms. In October, closely held FlightTime had record
sales for its contract jet service, in which customers pay one-year
membership fees based on flight hours and aircraft size. The company, which
has NCAA basketball teams, the World Wrestling Federation, and professional
golfers on its roster of clients, says it has 100 customers in its
membership service plan.

More recently, Foliot said he has received inquiries from companies that
have policies not to fly by charter. "They are now reevaluating that
policy," he said.

Berkshire Hathaway's Executive Jets Inc., the largest seller of
partial-ownership jets, is also seeing growth in its business. The New
Jersey company, which counts Tiger Woods and General Electric Co. among its
customers, manages 381 aircraft but has another 568 planes on order.

In the Boston area, some business travelers are switching from Logan to
Hanscom, said John Wraga, manager of the Mercury Air Center in Bedford. The
shift has helped the facility become a top performer among the parent
company's 20 airport service centers, which fuel, repair, and house planes.
After Sept. 11, the Hanscom location saw a 47 percent increase in fuel sold,
and 35 percent more aircraft in for drop-offs and pick-ups compared to the
same period a year earlier. "Business is fantastic," Wraga said. "We've seen
a great influx of people."

Corporate aviation firms do not release information about most business
clients, who often don't want details of their travel arrangements revealed.
Full and partial jet ownership has also been a sticky issue for many firms,
which fear criticism from investors. However, that appears to be changing
now that some companies perceive commercial air travel as increasingly
inconvenient.

For companies like EMC Corp., a Hopkinton data-storage firm, flying its own
jets out of Hanscom and other airports is the fastest way to get top
managers to conferences and client meetings.

"Our senior executives visit hundreds of customers a quarter, and this is a
way for them to efficiently conduct business outside of the office," said
Michael Gallant, an EMC spokesman. "From a timing standpoint, it allows you
to get more work done and be more relaxed for upcoming days of business."

© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company
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