Commuter airlines at Boston Logan International Airport: 1973-1981

Abstract

Introduction: The adequacy of air transportation in New England has been the subject of intermittent debate-over the last twenty years-, culminating in the Civil Aeronautics Board's 1970-1974 "New England Service Investigation" (Docket 22973). Spurred on by Senate hearings on the "Adequacy of Northern New England Air Service" (1971) in particular and by Senator Norris Cotton of New Hampshire in general, in 1974 the Board certificated Air New England as a local service carrier. It was the first certification of a commuter airline by the Board. The certification contradicted the advice of the Board's own Bureau of Operating Rights and the U.S. Department of Transportation and overturned the initial (1973) decision of Administrative Law Judge Greer M. Murphy, who held that existing commuter airlines could provide adequate service in New England without certification. A potentially successful commuter ("Air New England 1970-1974 ," MIT-FTL Report R75-9), millions of subsidy dollars later, Air New England is struggling financially and operationally and is now giving up many subsidized points to replacement commuter carriers. Logan Airport, the major hub of New England, has one of the largest concentrations of commuter carriers in the U.S. During the last seven years, it has ranked in the top three. Some twenty commuters (including all cargo carriers) land at Logan, serving over fifty markets. However, of the passenger-carrying commuters, only four (including Air New England) have remained steady customers since 1973. The others are Command, Pilgrim, and Provincetown-Boston Airlines. This report is an attempt - 2 - to analyze the pattern of commuter airlines operations at Logan. Since the events prior to 1973 are well documented, the emphasis is on the years 1973-1981. In Section 2, the theoretical background to analyze the commuter industry Is provided. Section 3 gives the Boston market analysis. In Section 4, a brief description of the aircraft used by commuters is provided as well as a look ahead to the aircraft that will be available to the commuter industry in the 1980s. Finally, in Section 5 some recommendations are made to monitor the commuter activities at Logan airport.