Wheels up: Worcester airport ramping up for more carriers, passengers

WORCESTER, Mass. — After years of relative quiet, the Worcester Regional Airport is showing signs of taking off.

It's a turnaround that started about five years ago when JetBlue added daily flights to Florida. That appealed to Courtney Mathis and her husband when they wanted to come north and visit their grandson.

"Boston Logan is very congested. It's moving too fast, too many places to go that are too far apart. This way, you come in and you are right there," said Mathis.

Lydia Tollen, who was on her way to Puerto Rico, likes that she can avoid a long drive to Logan.

"It’s closer to home. I avoid traffic. It's just 15 minutes from my home. It's convenient," said Tollen.

"We really believe Worcester has now opened itself up to the world," said Worcester County Sheriff Lewis Evangelidis, who is also the Massport chairman (Massport took control of the airport back in 2010.)

Evangelidis believes landing a carrier like JetBlue to service Worcester was a game-changer.

"They go to a Fort Lauderdale. They go to Orlando. We started flights in May to New York City daily, and now we have American Airlines, which will be starting flights to Philadelphia twice a day as well," said Evangelidis.

This comes as Massport finishes up a $100 million makeover next year. A third of that budget was spent on a new state-of-the-art navigational system. "In the past, you may have heard about planes being diverted from Worcester because of the visibility because it's a high elevation airport," said Evangelidis.

"So what that does, is allows for a consistency, when you book Worcester, you'll land in Worcester," said Evangelidis.

And then maybe do some business in New England's second-largest city.

"Communities that are successful have great transportation assets," said Tim Murray, president and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. "That's rail. That's airports. That's road access."

Murray believes a vibrant airport will have a domino effect on the local economy.

"To be able to have easy access to Worcester is going to make this a more desirable place to invest, to grow, and expand," said Murray.

It's estimated the airport currently generates about $40 million a year in economic activity for the region. But it's the affordability of parking, an easy check-in and a less frenzied environment that might be the biggest reasons travelers like Amber Leask, of Milford, NH, will give the airport another try.

"It was super simple," said Leask. "It's as close to us as Manchester, and I've heard that it's not super crowded, that the people are super polite here. It was a great flying experience and JetBlue comes here, which is our favorite airline."

At its peak, the airport handled 354,000 travelers in 1989, before falling off to a trickle. As JetBlue expands and a third major airline expected to start service this fall, Massport officials believe it can at least match those numbers in the next year or two.

Cox Media Group