Boston Globe
November 3, 2003

Airport pact's renewal sought
Worcester facility hurting since 9/11

By Associated Press

WORCESTER -- Political and business leaders hope for a renewed commitment from state aviation officials to run Worcester Regional Airport, which has struggled since Sept. 11, 2001.

The airport has been without scheduled passenger service since March, when US Airways Express pulled out, hastening a decline that began after the terrorist attacks and has left the airport functioning largely as a small-plane hub.

With the Massachusetts Port Authority's five-year contract to operate the airport due to expire in 2005, some area lawmakers hope to revive the once-thriving facility.

''We have a $1 billion asset and we need to decide what to do with it. How vital is it to the economic health of the region?'' said state Representative Karyn E. Polito, a Shrewsbury Republican who is among lawmakers scheduled to meet with Massport officials on Nov. 18.

City officials have been urging Massport for more than a year to renew the contract, even if it means a smaller financial stake by the authority. Massport has been covering the airport's $1 million annual operating deficit under the agreement that runs out in January 2005.

Facing financial problems of its own, the city cannot afford to fully subsidize the airport as it did before Massport took over in 1999, said City Manager Thomas R. Hoover.

If Massport were to pull out, the city would have to look at privatizing, leasing space to nonaviation businesses, or keeping it as a small-plane facility, he said. Privatization could run afoul of the federal government, which has provided tens of millions of dollars for airport upgrades.

''I'd like to see Massport come to the conclusion that Worcester Airport is very important to the future not just of Worcester, but of the entire Commonwealth and Massport itself,'' Hoover said.

A sticking point has been Massport's insistence that the airport needs a new access road. Various proposals for a major airport connector through the southern part of the city were killed after neighborhood activists, city councilors, and local legislators protested.

Representative John J. Binienda, a Worcester Democrat, has long fought an access road and vows to continue to do so, saying plenty of good roads already lead to the airport.

''There's not going to be any access road as long as I'm here,'' vowed Binienda, who also represents Leicester, where some of the airport property is located.

Binienda, cochairman of the Legislature's Energy Committee, wants instead to build a giant wind power plant to generate electricity for Worcester and nearby Leicester and Paxton.

Eric B. Waldron, the airport manager and a Massport employee, suggested that Massport is willing to stay involved with the airport, but at a lesser financial level than in the past.

''The contract renewal is something that needs to be looked at and something that needs to be done,'' he said. ''The city has to look at Massport's financial restrictions, but in the long term they're not going to be building any new airports and it's an asset that needs to be maintained.''

This story ran on page B2 of the Boston Globe on 11/3/2003.
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