Boston and LLC's

Long story in the Boston Globe about Logan and LLC (low cost carriers). Check out the line in BOLD. Next week Logan will have 71,774 passengers on low-fare carriers!!!

With Spirit's arrival, Logan gains ground in discount-fare offerings

Logan International Airport travelers got a new option for discount flights to Detroit and Myrtle Beach, S.C., yesterday on Spirit Airlines, and airport officials hope Spirit will soon expand to serve Florida and the Caribbean from Boston. Spirit's move is helping Logan bolster its low-fare carrier offerings in the wake of January's shutdown of Independence Air , which flew five daily round-trips to Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., and Delta Air Lines Inc.'s May decision to fold its Song low-fare unit back into mainline Delta.

For years, Logan has faced competition from discount carriers -- Southwest Airlines in particular -- at Manchester Boston Regional Airport in New Hampshire and T.F. Green Airport outside Providence . The biggest carriers at Logan, by passenger volume, remain traditional ones like American Airlines, Delta, United Airlines, and US Airways, which after its merger with America West last fall has begun fashioning itself as a low-cost carrier. But in the last year, Logan has attracted enough new service from AirTran Airways and JetBlue Airways Corp., and now Spirit, to be able to contend it now offers more seats on low-fare carriers per week than Manchester and Providence combined.

For the week beginning next Monday, low-fare carriers will fly a total of 71,774 seats out of Logan , according to figures developed by the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs the airport. That compares with 59,786 low-fare seats available from Manchester and Providence, almost all of those on Southwest . In the same week a year earlier, Logan's low-fare service totaled 54,977 seats, compared with 65,155 from Providence and Manchester. Overall, compared to 2004, Logan now offers 20,407 more seats on departing low-fare carrier flights, a 39.7 percent increase.

Spirit has begun Boston service with a pair of daily round trips to Detroit and a single daily round-trip to Myrtle Beach. Massport chief executive Thomas J. Kinton Jr. said he hopes Spirit will follow up as soon as this winter with new Boston-to-Fort Lauderdale, Fla., service. Spirit flies to 11 destinations in the Caribbean and to Cancun, Mexico, from its hub there . ``Spirit has a reputation as a high value, low cost air carrier whose presence at Logan will result in more choices and competitive fares for our customers," Kinton said.
Spirit yesterday was offering September round-trips for $198, not counting taxes, according to its website. That compared to ticket prices normally in the $288 range offered by Northwest Airlines, which has long dominated Boston-to-Detroit service, for flights purchased this month before Spirit launched service.

Spirit executives have in the past floated the possibility of expanded service from Boston. But yesterday, Spirit spokeswoman Lynne Koreman said the airline has ``no plans for what's next yet. We'll get through day one first." Koreman said flights are booked nearly full through the week, but before deciding whether to add more destinations from Boston, ``We need to get through the season." Spirit currently offers year-round service from Providence to Fort Lauderdale and seasonal flights from Providence to Fort Myers.

While the demise of Song and Independence Air was a step backward for discounters at Logan, other low-fare carriers have been moving aggressively to widen offerings in Boston . Since March, JetBlue has rolled out nonstop service to four new destinations -- Richmond, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo -- and plans to add service to Columbus, Ohio, on Oct. 18. That will bring to 20 the number of destinations JetBlue serves from Boston. Bermuda and Jacksonville, Fla., are widely seen as potential future destinations from Boston, but JetBlue has not confirmed specific plans.

AirTran began flying to Rochester, N.Y., on July 6. Filling a void left by Delta replacing big Song jets with smaller Delta jets, AirTran plans to add service to three Florida cities this autumn: Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers on Nov. 15, and Orlando on Dec. 21. That will increase AirTran Boston service to 31 daily flights to 10 nonstop destinations