All Things Travel: Big Boston Airport And Cruiseport Weekend
BOSTON (CBS) - It's another first for Massport on Saturday.
The authority that runs Logan Airport and Black Falcon Cruise Terminal in Boston will welcome new airline service and a new cruise destination on the same day.
Cathay Pacific will begin non-stop flights to Hong Kong departing in the late evening. Earlier in the day, Massport hosts an event on Boston Harbor to welcome Holland America and a second option for weekly cruises this spring to Bermuda.
A day earlier Norwegian Cruise Line started its weeklong Bermuda cruise season from Boston that runs through October 30.
The ships cater to different tourism segments and will dock at different ports on the island.
NCL uses a larger ship and draws its passenger base from residents within 75 miles of Boston. Holland-America will use its MS Veendam, a smaller ship that will dock in downtown Hamilton and spend three nights there.
Almost half of the passengers sailing on Holland America are expected to arrive in Boston at Logan and transfer to Black Falcon Terminal located 10 minutes from the airport.
At Saturday's Massport event, artwork from South Boston neighborhood elementary schools will decorate the cruise terminal. About 350,000 passengers are expected to pass through the port of Boston this year.
The arrival of Cathay Pacific Airways is a major new airline serving Boston this year. El Al and Aero Mexico will resume service to Logan Airport in the next 90 days.
"We are expecting a very strong summer air travel season," said Massport CEO Tom Glynn. "On Friday, April 17, we had 128,000 people use Logan. 100,000 is a busy day, but the combination of the Marathon and the start of school vacation accounted for the numbers."
Cathay Pacific is planning a major reception on May 7 to celebrate the start of their Boston flights. C-P is part of the Oneworld Alliance that includes American Airlines and British Airlines.
Based on figures for the first three months of the year, Logan should establish a new 32 million passenger record in 2015.
Bob Weiss reports on business travel on Mondays at 5:55 a.m. on WBZ NewsRadio 1030.