All Things Travel: More International Airlines Choose Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- On Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m., June 20, Logan Airport's international terminal was a busy place.
Massport is welcoming its first flight from Boston to Shanghai on Hainan Airlines with a ceremony and reception at Gate 4 behind security. There are very few seats available for departing passengers in the terminal. Downstairs, a couple hundred people waiting to greet arriving families and friends.
As this reporter looks out at the tarmac, familiar tail logos pass by. They include Aer Lingus, British Airways, Emirates, Iberia and a second Hainan aircraft arriving from Beijing.
An estimated 76,000 passengers flew between Boston and Shanghai last year. The new Hainan flights will take at least six hours off connecting flights.
It takes three to five years for airline contacts to be finalized by Massport to bring a new airline to Boston.
On June 28, El Al will return Boston flights to Tel Aviv for the first time in 20 years.
There was talk at Logan on Saturday that Massport might announce still another new airline flying into Boston on Thursday.
The two high-priority areas of the world not served out of Logan Airport are Scandinavia and South America with non-stop service.
Nine new airlines serving Boston in the last decade have added $1.4 billion to the Massachusetts economy. Hundreds of new jobs have been added to catering and other airport related services.
Terminal E is filled to capacity and Massport is planning to build new gates. Emirates Airlines has been forced to use departure facilities in Terminal C.
A review of international passenger traffic in the past five years, shows that over one million more international passengers now use Logan as their entry point into the U.S..
There is no question that local colleges and universities are a major source of that business.
One part of Terminal E that has not expanded at Logan is the Customs Hall for arriving passengers. It is a very busy place from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., despite new automated passport machines. There are long lines waiting to clear customs.
Bob Weiss reports