Airports set lures for non-stop flights
— -- Boston has some of the best universities in the world, a robust medical sciences industry and an increasingly diverse population.
Yet, Boston Logan International Airport doesn't have a single non-stop flight to Asia, Latin America, Africa or the Middle East, forcing many of the region's residents to connect in New York or other hubs when traveling abroad.
Officials at Boston Logan are vowing to tackle the problem, joining a growing list of airports that are offering special financial incentives for airlines to begin or expand service.
Tom Kinton, CEO of Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Boston Logan, says high fuel prices are a key factor in the changing way that airlines are looking at service expansion. "Without assistance," says Kinton, "airlines are reluctant unless it's a slam-dunk (route)."
In recent years, U.S. airports of all sizes, including Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami, San Francisco and Fort Lauderdale, have cut landing fees and rents and chipped in money for advertising to court new flights, particularly to attractive international destinations.
Airport executives say the incentives help broaden customer choices, stimulate the local economy and, ultimately, lower fares by increasing competition.
Beyond the economic benefits, a new non-stop service to a foreign gateway enhances an airport's prestige. Direct flights to Asia or Europe are on the wish lists of nearly all major airports.
More rivalries
Financial incentives have been around for years, but airlines are seeing more of them recently as competition among airports gets more heated, says Jon Ash, president of transportation consulting firm InterVistas-ga2. "Each year in the last five or six years, it has become a more aggressive practice."
