Grounded | Regional airports struggle for funding, survival
PHOTO/Charles Sternaimolo
FLIGHT DECK: Regional airport managers like Fred Guerin at Fitchburg Airport report declines in utilization due to Sept. 11 and overall economic conditions.
All Fred Guertin is asking for is 500 feet.
That’s all he says the runway at Fitchburg Municipal Airport needs to “open a whole new window” and increase traffic at the small regional transportation hub.
A 500-foot expansion of the airport’s runway would put it over 5,000 feet in length, a benchmark that Guertin, who is the airport manager, says would allow the airport to accommodate larger and heavier planes. And that, Guertin is hoping, will attract new recreational fliers and business travelers.
Money Woes
So, airport and city officials are in the midst of applying for millions of dollars in federal and state grants to fund the $16 million expansion, which Guertin hopes to break ground within two years.
Guertin is looking to give the airport, one of almost a dozen small regional airports in Central Massachusetts, a boost. (Click here to see a map of ten regional airports in Central Massachusetts.)
And according to those in the regional airline industry, secondary airports around the region — and the United States for that matter — need it.
“For a lot of the smaller airports, we live and breathe off of the disposable income that people have,” said David Dinneen, executive director of the Massachusetts Airport Management Association, a coalition of privately owned airports in the state. “Because of that, we’ve seen a dramatic decline in the number of people learning to fly, or actually out flying their planes. People just don’t have the money to spend.”
Dinneen and others in the industry blame a slowdown in airline traffic on the September 11 terrorist attacks and the national recession. Nationwide, airline traffic has declined from 835 million passengers per year at airports in 2007 to 767 million last year. Many in the industry expect that as the economy improves, passenger travel will increase.
Dinneen estimates fuel sales at Mansfield Municipal Airport, which he manages, is off 25 to 30 percent from just three years ago.
With traffic on the decline, funding for regional airports is under pressure. But cutting back now is short-sighted, according to those in the industry.
“We’re not building new airports virtually anywhere in the country,” said Ed Freni, director of aviation for the Massachusetts Port Authority. “But as passenger travel comes back, we can only handle so much at the larger airports, and all of these regional airports will play a role in easing the load.”
Boston’s Logan Airport, for example, can comfortably handle about 28 million passengers per year, Freni said. By 2020, that number could reach as high as 40 million, according to some estimates.
In Fitchburg, Guertin isn’t expecting to attract millions of passengers on commercial flights to Fitchburg.
But, increasing the runway size will allow new corporate travelers to fly into the airport, mostly to visit sites in Fitchburg, Leominster, Devens or elsewhere in Central Massachusetts.
Guertin’s hopes are supported by a 2008 study completed by RKG Associates, a New Hampshire-based consulting firm. That study, commissioned by the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce, surveyed 182 businesses in the region and asked if they use the airport. About 20 percent said they do at least once a year to transport staff, clients or products.
“A longer runway means more of an opportunity, and it improves safety,” said Darren Mochrie, a principal at RKG who worked on the Fitchburg study. “Does that translate directly into new business operations for Fitchburg or other communities? Not necessarily, but it definitely opens up the potential for businesses who are in the region to more fully utilize the airport, or for potential businesses that are looking for a new location and would find access to an airport advantageous.”
Staying Competitive
Freni, the Massport airline official, said in order to keep regional airports in business, investments need to be made now. That’s why Massport officials recently paid the city of Worcester more than $15 million to buy Worcester Regional Airport, he said.
Massport will be studying what improvements are needed at the airport over the long term. One of the biggest upgrades, Freni said, is access to the airport. He said transportation issues to the airport will be studied in the coming weeks to determine priorities.
In the short term, he said some aesthetic improvements will be made, including new landscaping and consistent signage at and leading up to the airport.
“We’d like to put a new face on the place,” he said.
The eventual goal is to increase passenger traffic and business use of the airport. It’s unlikely the airport will get back to its golden years in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when upwards of 350,000 passengers traveled through the airport annually, Freni admitted.
Back then there were multiple carriers, including U.S. Airways, which flew to Philadelphia and American Eagle, which flew to New York and Chicago.
Now, South Carolina-based Direct Air is the airport’s lone carrier flying to three locations, two in Florida and one in the company’s home state. Since November 2008, when Direct Air began serving WRA, there have been more than 100,000 passengers in about a year and a half, according to Andrew Davis, airport manager of the WRA.
Ed Warneck, president of Direct Air, said his goal is to increase not only the destinations from Worcester, but also to launch a reverse marketing campaign to encourage residents from southern states to travel to Worcester and Central Massachusetts.
“There’s an education process that needs to happen,” Warneck said. “Secondary airports will only survive once the communities recognize the amount of new business these airports can bring into the market. All you have to do is market yourself outside the community and reach that audience.”
Warneck said he is already in discussions about putting vacation packages together to sell plane tickets along with trips to various attractions around Central Massachusetts and Boston.
“We need to save these airports,” he said.
Other airports in Central Massachusetts aren’t looking for dramatic multi-million dollar investments. They’re just looking to survive with decreased business.
G. Robert Stetson has privately managed and owned the Marlborough Regional Airport for more than two decades, including its 1,682-foot runway on 25 acres.
Everyone from recreational pilots to business travelers and even President Barack Obama uses the airport, Stetson said.
In fact, when Obama came to Massachusetts for a fundraiser and to tour flood damage in April, the presidential motorcade vehicles damaged the airport’s runway, Stetson said.
He has unsuccessfully requested $700,000 from the federal government to help repair it.
Even without the money to repair the damaged runway — which is still usable — Stetson said the last few years have been a struggle.
“Airports are just less busy than they’ve ever been,” he said. “A lot of people blame 9/11 and the economy. I don’t think that’s it either. I don’t know what it is, it just seems like there is less interest in flying.”
People, he said, don’t want to spend their time and money on flying planes, which he admits is an expensive hobby.
“If you really want to drum up interest, I think you’d have to ban golf,” he joked.
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