Improvements at Hanscom delayed
Massport cites revenue drop-off

By Davis Bushnell, Globe Correspondent, 11/25/2001

BEDFORD - The Massachusetts Port Authority revealed last week it is
postponing indefinitely more than $1.5 million worth of improvements to the
Civil Air Terminal and parking area at Hanscom Field, due to budget cuts
caused by lagging business at Boston's Logan International Airport.

The disclosure came even as Shuttle America, which has served Hanscom since
September 1999, said last week it expects to emerge from bankruptcy
proceedings Thursday or Friday with a new owner and plans to restart daily
service from Hanscom to New York's LaGuardia Airport on Jan. 6. The airline
filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April.

Meanwhile, the first round of contentious public hearings concerning
vegetation and environmental management proposals for the airfield is over.
Revised plans are expected to be presented early next year to the
conservation commissions of Bedford, Concord, Lexington, and Lincoln.
Portions of the Hanscom land are in those communities.

''Although the first phase is over, the process is really beginning,'' said
Sheldon Moll, a Bedford selectman and chairman of the Hanscom Field Advisory
Commission, referring to plans to clear underbrush and trees near runways.

''I wouldn't be surprised if there were three or four more phases, with the
[vegetation] project strung out over five to 10 years,'' Moll added, noting
that a separate plan for the Bedford Town Forest is ''on the back burner.''

Massport, however, is counting on work beginning next summer on clearing
trees from other areas, spokesman Richard Walsh said. That work will be
unaffected by budget cuts because of Federal Aviation Administration
mandates, he said. ''It gets priority.''

But, Walsh said, budget restraints have derailed plans to spend $850,000 on
upgrading restrooms and expanding the seating area in the Civil Air
Terminal, and $700,000 on repaving a parking lot. Those improvements
probably will be deferred to late next year at the earliest, Walsh said.

The leader of Save Our Heritage, a Concord-based historic preservation group
that has been battling Massport and Shuttle America from the outset of
commercial air service, said the agency has now made ''a wise move.''

''We are confident that in time Massport will recognize that any expansion
of this airport is needlessly harmful to its unique surroundings and is
inconsistent with sound transportation planning,'' said Anna Winter,
executive director.

Shuttle America, meantime, is gearing up for relaunching LaGuardia service
Jan. 6 with seven daily round trips, confident that its reorganization plan
will be approved Thursday or Friday by the US Bankruptcy Court in Hartford,
said Mark Cestari, chief spokesman for the fledgling regional airline.

Shuttle America began flying to New York on Nov. 1 of last year. It
suspended that service April 15 this year, after filing for bankruptcy.

Under the reorganization plan, the Windsor Locks, Conn.-based airline
carrier would be sold for $1.4 million to Shuttle Acquisition Corp., an
entity of Wexford Capital LLC of Greenwich, Conn.

The new owner would be responsible for settling Shuttle America's secured
debts of $11.2 million and unsecured debts of $12 million.

If the acquisition is approved by the court, Cestari said, then a new
management team will be selected, replacing David Hackett and Barry Lutin,
who are chief executive and president, respectively.

The airline's new top command would direct an ambitious aircraft-leasing
program, Cestari said.

''By spring, we'd like to have 16 planes, all turboprops, so that we could
add other cities to our schedule,'' he added, without being specific about
which cities.

If Shuttle America expands, 50 additional pilots and 25 more flight
attendants would be hired, he said. Seventy-five pilots and 40 flight
attendants are currently on the payroll. There are 340 employees, he said.

Since Oct. 24, Shuttle America has been operating from Hanscom as US Airways
Express, with six round trips daily to Trenton, N.J., and five round trips
to Philadelphia. The airline has a marketing agreement with US Airways,
which takes an undisclosed cut of all fares and provides ticketing and
baggage services.

Winter, the Save Our Heritage leader, said, ''We are mystified as to why
this airline keeps pushing itself where it is not wanted.''

Cestari retorted, ''What we're planning speaks well for the value of our
franchise at Hanscom.''

This story ran on page N1 of the Boston Globe on 11/25/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
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