Commercial passenger service resumes at Worcester Airport

Just saw the first Jet Blue plane approach the airport when I was out this afternoon. I was surprised by how low it looked, especially over downtown, that I could actually read the livery on it.

Good to have the airport more active again.
 
I dont understand why cities are so obsessed with getting service to their airport.

On the other hand, Trenton airport has been pretty successful, with a ton of destinations for such a random airport....and one airlines.
 
For a city like Worcester they probably see this as some sort of affirmation of relevance.
 
It's a big selling point to get companies to (re)locate here, in the tradition of city boosterism.
 
Yea but no company is going to consider locating in a place like Worcester based on a pair of flights to overwhelmingly leisure oriented destinations.

It's still not much of an argument but they would get a lot further if they had managed to attract an airline like USAir or Delta with a couple daily flights to a major northeast/central US hub like Philadelphia or Detroit
 
jass said:
On the other hand, Trenton airport has been pretty successful, with a ton of destinations for such a random airport....and one airlines.
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Simple: It's right between Newark and Philly, and is is a great choice for much of NJ + PA. Newark is also maxed out on flights, prone to heavy delays and most people regard as very unpleasant in general. Philly is also difficult to get to for anyone living North of Philly given the traffic on I-95 (and I-76), and isn't entirely delay-free either. Frontier's plan seems to be paying off.

Worcester I'm not so sure about the prospects for it siphoning much traffic beyond leisure travel like this. I don't think just the western suburbs of Boston + Worcester itself are enough of a market for getting many flights, and everything else is rather locked up by other airports in stronger positions with existing flights. Providence, Manchester, and Bradley.
 
kmp1284 said:
Yea but no company is going to consider locating in a place like Worcester based on a pair of flights to overwhelmingly leisure oriented destinations.

It's still not much of an argument but they would get a lot further if they had managed to attract an airline like USAir or Delta with a couple daily flights to a major northeast/central US hub like Philadelphia or Detroit
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If Worcester is serious they need to solve the road access problem -- someone counted 12 lights on city streets between the highway and the airport -- they need a legitimate Airport BLVD at this stage of development. If in 10 years they have as many passengers of all types as Portland Me -- then Worcester should consider a direct highway connection
 
Worcester's business community would probably be better served by an inland Acela route to NYC and beyond that actually ran at high speeds than it would be by a regional airport with a handful of flights. Worcester's proximity to other big Northeastern city's is what it has going for it, not some sort of limited airport.
 
Is it feasible to true have high speed rail (150 mph+) routed to the higher altitude inland cities of MA like Worcester? I agree that the biggest problem for the Worcester Airport is highway access and it would probably be much cheaper and more practical to build the road than HS rail service. HS rail between Boston and Worcester might be interesting though.
 
I believe it's actually on the preferred routing for the inland route that Amtrak wants to build and shift the Acela to. Someone who's more of a train nerd can correct me if I'm wrong though.
 
underground said:
Worcester's business community would probably be better served by an inland Acela route to NYC and beyond that actually ran at high speeds than it would be by a regional airport with a handful of flights. Worcester's proximity to other big Northeastern city's is what it has going for it, not some sort of limited airport.
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Agreed.

The state needs some daily service on the inland route. Call it the Lobster Express.

Boston-Framinhgam-Worcester-Inland City A = Inland City B - Springfield

Connections are there to other, more popular places.

Two round trips a day + existing lakeshore service would be a good starter system.
 
underground said:
Worcester's business community would probably be better served by an inland Acela route to NYC and beyond that actually ran at high speeds than it would be by a regional airport with a handful of flights. Worcester's proximity to other big Northeastern city's is what it has going for it, not some sort of limited airport.
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You could do that too. I was just thinking of solutions that wouldn't cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
 
underground said:
I believe it's actually on the preferred routing for the inland route that Amtrak wants to build and shift the Acela to. Someone who's more of a train nerd can correct me if I'm wrong though.
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I could be wrong, but I believe that NEC HSR service has been mapped out along I-84 and I-384, then on a new ROW through northern Rhode Island, entering MA near Franklin. It's planned to miss Worcester and Springfield entirely, if it ever happens at all.

That said, I think the Worcester/Springfield routing has been mentioned as a "faster-than-normal" service, so maybe current Acela is theoretically possible there.
 
underground said:
I believe it's actually on the preferred routing for the inland route that Amtrak wants to build and shift the Acela to. Someone who's more of a train nerd can correct me if I'm wrong though.
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One of several.

The Inland Route to Springfield is never going to be fast. Worcester Hills kill it. And it would cost a kajillion dollars to electrify west of Worcester because of the double-stack freights that would have to fit under the wires (Worcester-Westborough at least has few overhead bridges and lots of ex- 3 track territory making the T's job stringing up wires relatively straightforward).

The best way to get anything approaching HSR is to take the mid-Connecticut bypass Amtrak is considering, possibly bootstapped onto the I-384 expressway extension. Then fork it at Plainfield, CT. Providence HSR continues east. Inlands divert north over the P&W mainline to Worcester Union then continue east on the Worcester Line. The latter probably wouldn't be 150 MPH...probably more like 80-90 MPH on P&W after it splits off around I-395 and 90-110 on the Worcester Line. But plenty good for the size of the Worcester/MetroWest ridership. And they may have to consider doing Worcester as the only routing for several years as the interim step before the last leg to Providence is complete. It's not like such an enormous megaproject can be built all in one shot. So that probably cements the Worcester fork as a permanent service even after the Providence leg opens.



In the meantime, I just don't see a real tie-in for the Airport. It's far away from Worcester Union so a disconnected shuttle bus is the only way to get from plane-to-train. T.F. Green is much better for dropping off right at the terminal, and someday when Providence-Worcester commuter rail is running you'll be able to get there quite easily from Worcester. And Bradley is just flat-out bigger with a to-be-relocated Springfield Line stop making for easy transfers and future possibility of door-to-door rail access via the Bradley Branch. A good Inlands schedule today would open that airport up to all of Eastern MA and offer up lots more options for bargain hunting, resiliency during weather diversions, and backups for missed connections. Worcester sure as hell isn't going to do that. The airport's at such a high elevation it's the first terminal in New England to ice over and it gets shrouded in fog at the drop of a hat.
 
kmp1284 said:
You could do that too. I was just thinking of solutions that wouldn't cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
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kmp -- there are no HSR solutions that don't cross the threshold into the ole Ev Dirkson line about DC ''A billion here an Billion there pretty soon you're talking real money"

While it would be nice to have 2 trains per hour between South Station and Union Station Worcester with a stop at Worcester Airport the reality is that start will be long after the likely very long from now for Fall River and New Bedford is running
 
JetBlue year two in Worcester could see higher prices

Despite higher than expected popularity of JetBlue's flights from Worcester to Florida the airline needs to see more money coming out of the routes over the next year.

The lines from the city to Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale drew roughly 110,000 passengers in their first year of operation, more than the initially projected 100,000.

Like most newly-established flight routes, Worcester's didn't prove profitable in year one as Thomas Glynn, the chief executive officer of Massport, which operates the airport said at the one-year anniversary celebration in early November.

Joanna Geraghty, a JetBlue Airways Corp. executive vice president, confirmed that the airline, as well as the airport had lost money it's first year in the city.

Geraghty told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette that the next year will likely be critical as the airline evaluates whether to keep or expand the routes.

"We need to ramp up profitability. Year two is a really important year for Worcester," she said. "We'd like to see a bit more fare building, in terms of profitability."

Glynn, who said last month that he hopes to see 300,000 passenger flights from the airport in this second year, said MassPort doesn't project turning a profit from the airport "until maybe five years down the road."

But Geraghty indicated that the airline, the only major airline to fly out of Worcester, might not be quite as patient.

"You don't want to have unprofitable routes for an extended period of time," she said. "Worcester needs to earn its way into our network."
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http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/b...e-year-two-in-worcester-could-see-higher.html
 
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