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I drove from Arlington 02474 to MHT regularly in the 1998 to 2001 timeframe to catch both Southwest and MetroJet flights to BWI and IAD (and maybe DCA?).
Boston simply did not have flights at "Southwest" prices until JetBlue got here in 2004.
Sept 11 caused Metrojet to fold on Sept 24th, 2001, and every other airline lost the nerve to compete with Southwest (and JetBlue was carefully avoiding them, by design).
If you had to date "the end" of MHT's role as a Boston airport, I'd choose 2003, the year in which:
- The Zakim & O'Neill Tunnel make access to Logan easy
- Delta pre-empts JetBlue with Song (a JetBlue clone)
- JetBlue announces BOS service (starts Jan 2004)
Then everyone's "return" to BOS accelerates with
- 2006 Runway 14/32 opens
- 2008 the Great Recession
- 2009 Southwest Air starts BOS
And after that, the DL/NW, AA/US, and UA/CO mergers mean fewer hubs need or want MHT as a spoke (I don't know how many MHT had at its peak, but when Southwest launched there back in 1998, it'd have been standard for the majors to ensure that MHT had service from places from their minor hubs--PIT, CLE, CVG that no longer exist.
(Also, back then, Continental was doing Continental Connection trips all over NY, including, IIRC, BOS-HPN)
And I found exactly that on Archive.org!
From:
https://web.archive.org/web/20010405112246/http://flymanchester.com:80/home_frames.htm
APRIL 2001 NONSTOP SERVICE
Boston simply did not have flights at "Southwest" prices until JetBlue got here in 2004.
Sept 11 caused Metrojet to fold on Sept 24th, 2001, and every other airline lost the nerve to compete with Southwest (and JetBlue was carefully avoiding them, by design).
If you had to date "the end" of MHT's role as a Boston airport, I'd choose 2003, the year in which:
- The Zakim & O'Neill Tunnel make access to Logan easy
- Delta pre-empts JetBlue with Song (a JetBlue clone)
- JetBlue announces BOS service (starts Jan 2004)
Then everyone's "return" to BOS accelerates with
- 2006 Runway 14/32 opens
- 2008 the Great Recession
- 2009 Southwest Air starts BOS
And after that, the DL/NW, AA/US, and UA/CO mergers mean fewer hubs need or want MHT as a spoke (I don't know how many MHT had at its peak, but when Southwest launched there back in 1998, it'd have been standard for the majors to ensure that MHT had service from places from their minor hubs--PIT, CLE, CVG that no longer exist.
(Also, back then, Continental was doing Continental Connection trips all over NY, including, IIRC, BOS-HPN)
And I found exactly that on Archive.org!
From:
https://web.archive.org/web/20010405112246/http://flymanchester.com:80/home_frames.htm
APRIL 2001 NONSTOP SERVICE
U S AIRWAYS - U S AIRWAYS EXPRESS
7 flights a day to New York - LaGuardia
2 jets a day to Washington National
3 jets a day to Pittsburgh
5 jets a day to Philadelphia
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES
8 jets a day to Baltimore-Washington
2 jets a day to Chicago (Midway)
2 jet a day to Nashville
2 jet a day to Orlando
1 jet a day to Tampa
1 jet a day to Kansas City
UNITED AIRLINES
4 jets a day to Chicago (O'Hare)
NORTHWEST AIRLINES
4 jets a day to Detroit
METROJET
5 jets a day to Baltimore-Washington
1 Saturday-only jet to Orlando
CONTINENTAL AIRLINES - CONTINENTAL EXPRESS - CCONTINENTAL CONNECTION
4 jets a day to Newark
2 jets a day to Cleveland
3 flights a day to Albany
2 flights a day to Rochester
1 flight a day to Syracuse
3 flights a day to New York-JFK (beginning 4/4/01)
DELTA AIR LINES
2 jets a day to Atlanta
COMAIR DELTA CONNECTION
4 jets a day to Cincinnati
AMERICAN EAGLE
3 flights a day to New York - LaGuardia
AIR CANADA
4 flights a day to Toronto
2 flights a day to Montreal (beginning 4/9/01)
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