WORCESTER—Local Red Sox fans can fly more easily to spring training beginning in January, with the addition of a daily flight from Worcester Regional Airport.
“The Worcester Airport is the official airport for the Worcester Red Sox and Polar Park,” airport director Andy Davis said. “Starting Jan. 4, JetBlue will have a flight to Fort Myers. It’s only for the season, but if we use it, maybe it will continue.”
The Worcester Regional Airport opened in 1946. At that time, Davis said, air travel had not yet advanced to long, non-stop flights, and flying by air was more akin to train travel, with several stops between destinations.
“It fit the pattern of the times,” he said. “Routes were shorter, and there was limited service. The flight started in Bangor, then went to Portland, Manchester, Worcester, and Albany. It was a whistle-stop.”
The airport was owned by the city of Worcester until 2010 when Massport became its owner and operator. In the last 70 years, the airport has provided different levels of service. Davis said smaller airports tend to be more vulnerable to layoffs and fuel increases. Then, of course, there was COVID-19, which impacted service for about a year and a half.
“Delta, American, and JetBlue all suspended their services, but they all came back,” Davis said. “We are one of the few airports to recover 100 percent of all airlines and flights, and this year, we’re on track to break 200,000 passengers.”
The passenger demographic changed after COVID as well.
“Leisure travel took off,” Davis said. “People were cooped up, so there was a big rebound with leisure, and once people could travel, they took advantage of that. We’re doing particularly well with flights to Florida.”
With more companies allowing employees to work from home, business travel has slowed, but Davis believes that’s a passing phase.
“Business travel has been slow to recover, but we expect that to be a fad,” he said. “As they say, ‘there’s no better way to close a deal than a handshake.’”
To accommodate more vacation passengers, JetBlue changed its daily New York flights to Florida routes. (Passengers can still travel to JFK and LaGuardia via Delta and American.) Stephanie Sawyer of Southbridge traveled to Orlando last October for a Disney trip, with her husband, parents, and young daughter.
“The prices were better than other flights, and it was easier to maneuver and manage with a toddler,” she said. “I would recommend anyone fly out of Worcester.”
April Shipman from West Boylston has flown to Orlando twice in the last six months.
“Worcester is a short drive for me,” she said. “Both flights were late afternoon flights, so I could work a full day in Massachusetts and then get to Florida at a reasonable time. Had I flown out of Providence, my usual airport, I’d have to use up a vacation day or half day just to account for the drive. So, basically, it’s a good choice to maximize allotted vacation time.”
Another advantage, travelers said, is the convenience of the parking, which is only $7 a day, with the first 24 hours free.
“It’s literally park the car, walk to the terminal, and walk through security in minutes,” Shipman said. “One of my trips, my husband dropped me off and picked me up. That’s an additional savings in time and money. Getting into and out of Worcester is easy and traffic is never an issue.”
Davis said the airport is completing the expansion of its parking lot, especially as winter vacations and spring break are around the corner.
“We have an anomaly in that Massachusetts has school vacation one week, and New Hampshire has it the next,” he said. “There is a weekend that overlaps, and a couple of times last year we ran out of parking. We don’t want to get into remote parking; we think that’s a one-notch lower customer experience.”
Davis said the airport has also expanded security and is working with the TSA to increase to two lanes. There are self-service kiosks, so passengers can minimize their time standing in lines.
Being small has its advantages, Davis said. A runway was just resurfaced and is now set for the next 15 years, and that happened without any disruption of service.
“Our flight schedule is between noon and 6 p.m., so we were able to do it during those 18 off hours,” Davis said. “We’ve also just switched to 100 percent LED lighting, instead of incandescent, as we work toward our net zero sustainability.”
The airport’s size also makes inevitable flight glitches more manageable.
“My second trip was impacted by an air traffic control delay,” Shipman said. “We sat in the terminal for 45 additional minutes, then boarded and taxied out. There we sat for an additional 30 minutes. Finally, we were informed that we would travel a different, longer route and had to return to the airport to top off fuel. In other larger, busier airports that would mean additional time just waiting for available personnel. At Worcester, we returned and, immediately, personnel worked on fueling activities. We were on our way shortly after fueling was completed.”
Sawyer had a similar story.
“We had almost a four-hour delay,” Sawyer said. “The staff were extremely accommodating, kind, and friendly. They provided food and drinks for those who were waiting and answered any questions. Due to my dad being disabled, he had priority boarding and they allowed the entire family to board when he did, which was much appreciated.”
In addition to commercial flights, the airport also provides services for private and corporate functions. “We work with Atlantic Aviation,” Davis said. “So if a VIP flies in, for example, for a meeting with the chamber of commerce, or there’s a guest speaker or visiting professor, we fill that need.”
The airport currently runs four daily flights to Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, LaGuardia, and JFK. The new Fort Myers route will make five, and Davis hopes that’s just the beginning. He explained that it’s the airlines who decide where to put their flights, and while airport personnel are in constant communication with carriers, those carriers have to know that a particular route will be successful.
“We’d like to fill in the niche markets,” he said. “To sell it to the airline, we have to prove that people will use it.”
Christine M. Quirk is the former editor of MotherTown and has written for the Telegram & Gazette, Bay State Parent, and the Times & Courier. She is a novelist and an instructional aide at Abby Kelley Foster Charter Elementary School in Worcester. She can be reached at cmqwriter@gmail.com
