April 11, 2006

5385 Passengers!!

Aiport Liaison Niddrie just e-mailed me the following numbers:

  • Since inception (Dec 22 thru March 31)
  • 49 outbound flights
  • 5385 passengers

That is great news. We are half way to 10,000, which will result in the Airport regaining primary airport status and entitling it to approximately $1,000,000 in federal Airport Improvement Progrom funds. The past couple of years, we were still getting these funds, although we had dropped below 10,000 passengers.

We are averaging approximately 108 passengers per flight on a plane that seats 130 people. In other words our load looks to be 83%, which looks pretty good to me??

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's great news. Plus with school vacations coming up, I'm sure that 10,000 mark will come up faster. I was talking to an ORH employee around Christmas. If I understood correctly, he stated that the airport was in talks with 3 other airlines (Hooters was one I believe). Any more to this? What airlines and what is the status?

Bill Randell said...

My guess, and hopes, are USA3000 and a charter carrier.

Anonymous said...

I know passenger service is top priority, but what about cargo? ORH is surrounded by an industrial park plus, FedEx is right down the street in Auburn and UPS is a short distance from Shrewsbury. Why aren't these companies utilizing Worcester? Plus the more jet aircraft utilizing ORH would draw more service I would think.

Bill Randell said...

Euro-American has a warehouse physically on the airport, but they truck cargo to Boston... There are actual reasons why, including one of the runways is not long enough.

Actually Tom Moore knows the reasons why... Tom, fill us in..

Anonymous said...

Runway 11 is 7000 feet by 150 wide. Considering that it ends at a road on the Leicester side and begins at the other end of a hill, I would venture that expanding it is not an option. However, what about Runway 15, which is 5000 feet by 150 wide. Is it possible to add an additional 2000 to 2500 feet to each end and bring it up to a 9 or 10,000 ft runway? Not only cargo, but this may also attract airlines with larger aircraft. Obviously this could be done utilizing FAA or DOT grants.

Continue to Spread the Word!!! said...

Great news.. Of course you got the smaller jets, but still that is great news.. You well on your way to 20,000!

Anonymous said...

The expansion of rwy 15-33 would be a major undertaking. Not only is it only 100ft wide but it is rediculously unlevel. Anyone who as ever flown out of ORH and landed/departed on rwy 15 would see that problem. The runway has a huge dip on the 15 side, it levels off where it crosses 11-29, then it climbs again. Also, there are other factors, mainly wind direction, landing sytems, apporach procedures, all of which would have to be taken into consideration before 15-33 could be made the primary runway.

An even greater problem preventing larger jets from servicing ORH is the lack of taxiways. 11-29 does not have a taxiway at the approach end of 11. This forces any large aircraft departing 11 or landing 29 to execute a 180 in the middle of the runway. This is fine for smaller jets such as an MD-80, but for anything much larger it becomes a tedious and time consuming task as you can obviously not put a plane into reverse to make a 3-point turn.

With some landscaping, it may be possible to extend runway 29 1000' or so, however, if this would happen, a taxiway is a must.

Joe Gargery said...

Serious question;

What benefit would cargo flights bring to Worcester?

Convenience is one thing for a living, breathing passenger.

Does a Fedex box care how long it is on a truck, or waiting for a flight?

If Euro-American finds it better to use Logan, why even consider expanding for cargo?

Bill Randell said...

Charley:

An airport is like any other business, you need to maximize all revenue potential... Commericial passengers is only one potential revenue pool.. GA business, cargo, restaurant space, unused industrial land are others and all should be pursued to reduce a $2,000,000 deficit.

Anonymous said...

Bill, I am reluctantly responding to your plea to add to the conversation regarding cargo at ORH. You know how I feel about people who can't identify themselves in this forum. It deadens their comments. If you, Bill, can tell us who you are, why can't they? Do they have more to lose than we do? Are they "holier than thou"?

That said, I can still share with others who have been polite enough to identify themselves. Anonymous, stop reading. Go do anonymous things elsewhere.

I sat down with the owner of Euro-American about two years ago at the behest of Bill Randell, and for my own edification. What he explained to me was that it was far more expensive to ship out of ORH than to truck cargo from there to Logan, Bradley, or Green. It all came down to economics. In fact, he has no vested interest in the success or failure of the place. As for FedEx and UPS, poor access is the deterrent. I attempted to contact reps from both, but as a private citizen, their responses to me were cursory and ambivalent. Bottom line is that without better access for trucks, and lots of them, they are not interested. Boston has an established infrastructure for trucking, and actual air service. Also, the requirements of an a/c needed for cargo transport exceeds ORH facilities. Now we're talking about expanding runways, which as some of us know runs into more obstacles.

Anonymous said...

Tom,
I originally posted the coment about bringing in cargo to Worcester. I apologize, I'm not a big computer guy so I don't have a blog name. My name is Dave Houghes. I have started signing my posts as Dave H. Thanks for the reply.

Bill Randell said...

Tom:

Thanks!!

Bill

Anonymous said...

Thank you for joining in the discussion, Dave. Your comments have merit and show a real concern for the problem.