By Matthew Brelis, Globe Staff, 5/15/2001
Demand by commercial airlines to fly in and out of Hanscom Field in suburban
Boston is rapidly exceeding the expectations of Massachusetts Port Authority
officials. The agency had envisioned no more than 24 daily departures six
years ago, but if several carriers' proposals are approved, that number
would grow nearly 50 percent.
Tonight, during a hearing at Bedford Town Hall, US Airways is expected to
tell area officials that it wants to start four daily flights to
Philadelphia and three to New York's LaGuardia airport.
Shuttle America announced yesterday it would start flying six flights a day
to New York on June 15, bringing the number of its daily departures from
Hanscom to 18, airline officials said.
Midway Airlines also wants to start service from Hanscom with three daily
flights to Raleigh-Durham, and Boston Maine Airways wants to start seven
daily flights to the Cape and Islands. Both airlines are expected to seek
approval from Massport next month.
If all the airlines fly the schedules they are proposing, then Hanscom,
which is bordered by Bedford, Concord, Lincoln, and Lexington, would have 35
daily departures - 11 more than the limit studied in an environmental review
done by Massport in 1995.
Massport spokesman Jose Juves said the agency was ''in discussions'' with
airlines about their proposals. If another environmental review is needed,
it would be done, he said.
''Massport will not be an obstacle to airlines flying out of Hanscom
Field,'' Juves said. ''This is regionalization at work. ''
Anna Winter, executive director of Save Our Heritage, which is fighting
increased commercial use of the airport, said, ''Massport does whatever it
wants. It has never done a valid study of the environmental impact of
commercial aviation at Hanscom and it never will.''
Opponents are concerned that increasing commercialization of the airport,
New England's busiest general aviation field, will harm nearby historic
sites, including Minute Man National Historical Park, through which
Hanscom's main access road runs.
The group and other opponents, as well as surrounding communities, have gone
to federal court to get the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct a
thorough review of commercial service at Hanscom under the National Historic
Preservation Act.
''Hopefully, the FAA will see this is an imperative and not wait for the
court to act,'' Winter said.
Mark Cetari, a Shuttle America spokesman, said the airline ''is working
through reorganization.... We have not laid anyone off and have a few new
hires.''
He said the resumption of multiple flights to LaGuardia ''was partially
internally driven and partially competitively driven.''
With more flights out of Hanscom seeming likely, Massport officials were
reviewing whether to continue to permit free parking at the airport.
This story ran on page E05 of the Boston Globe on 5/15/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
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