More international carrier gates at Logan

[stellarfun]

When are they re-naming Terminal E as Terminal D? And I assume the reconfiguration means passengers no longer will walk in the open air to go between Terminals C & E. From today's Herald.

Logan plans changes in 2 terminals
By Donna Goodison | Tuesday, January 15, 2008

The reconfiguration of Northwest Airlines? and AirTran Airways? operations at Logan International Airport will free up two international gates in Terminal E, allowing the airport to alleviate congestion on heavy travel days and possibly accommodate new international service.


The planned $8 million changes are part of Logan?s master plan to make the airport more efficient.


There are no immediate takers for the two Terminal E gates, which Northwest currently uses for domestic flights, according to Director of Aviation Ed Freni.


?We?re constantly, through our route development program, looking for international activity, and we have a number of different irons in the fire as far as possible future activity,? Freni said. ?But, right now, taking these two gates will help us relieve what?s a pretty compressed schedule currently.?


Northwest?s new gates will be located at the end of Terminal C that?s closest to Terminal E, where its ticketing operations will remain. Logan also will expand the airline?s post-security passenger holding areas, WorldClub private lounge and administrative offices in Terminal C, and add a third security checkpoint lane to accommodate Northwest customers.


AirTran Airways, meanwhile, will see its bi-level Logan operations consolidated. Its ticketing counter on the lower level of Terminal C will move on March 1 to the upper level of Terminal C. AirTran?s lower-level security checkpoint will be eliminated, and its gates will be relocated from one side of Terminal C to the other.


The changes will allow Logan to build out a circuitous portion of Terminal C and make it more user-friendly as well as to expand concessions. ?There will be some shifting and new offerings in Terminal C,? Freni said. ?The whole area needs a facelift.?


Logan officials hope to start the project in early spring and complete the bulk of the work before the end of summer.

http://www.bostonherald.com/business...icleid=1066588

[ChunkyMonkey]

Any improvement will be a good thing. Have they fixed up the gate areas in Terminal E yet? They have a beautiful ticketing area but the actual seating area and arrivals are the pits. I thought they were redoing it all, but the last time I was there, it was still incredibly dated and ugly.

[Equilibria]

My guess is that this is related to an anticipated merger between Northwest and Delta, which would theoretically move Northwest into Terminal A. Massport has been trying to get them to move there since A opened, but Northwest resisted and Massport wound up moving Continental when Delta cut flights. The AirTran move sounds like its into the old Continental gates off the B-C connector that Jet Blue has been using recently.

The "upper level" thing is also misleading. There is an upper level of C above where the AirTran desks are now, but I assume they're actually going in the vacant Continental desks in the main hall, especially with the gates flipping to the other side.

[atlantaden]

Northwest has resisted moving to Terminal A because being in the International Terminal E allows their international passengers (arrivals/departures to/from Amsterdam) to make easy domestic connections within the same terminal, something that can't happen in Terminal A. As I mentioned before in the Logan Flight Additions thread, Delta's original plans for their new Terminal A included space for Customs/INS facilities allowing for expansion of their Transatlantic routes out of Boston (and easy domestic connections within their own terminal) but MassPort nixed the idea. As far as the upstairs departures area of Terminal E, they do have new seating but I agree with ChunkyMonkey, it's very dated. They need to jazz it up...maybe have banners hanging from the ceiling, new flooring, add some color!!. The ticketing area downstairs, however, is beautiful! The Northwest domestic area is pretty nice as well.

[mass88]

Massport is dropping the ball on some things if you ask me, namely the lack of Customs in terminal A. Look at it this way, they could move Northwest over to A
and make them happy by allowing passengers to connect to their domestic flights. One thing to point out is that these flights are pretty much all Boston originating or ending passengers. Northwest funnels the bulk of their Amsterdam passengers through Detroit as they have 5 daily flights and Minneapolis/St.Paul.

Delta is the carrier with a decent sized network that would benefit the most from the facilities.

[ChunkyMonkey]

Originally Posted by mass88

Massport is dropping the ball on some things if you ask me, namely the lack of Customs in terminal A. Look at it this way, they could move Northwest over to A
and make them happy by allowing passengers to connect to their domestic flights. One thing to point out is that these flights are pretty much all Boston originating or ending passengers. Northwest funnels the bulk of their Amsterdam passengers through Detroit as they have 5 daily flights and Minneapolis/St.Paul.

Delta is the carrier with a decent sized network that would benefit the most from the facilities.

I don't think this is entirely Massport's fault. I believe original plans called for immigration/customs in Terminal A, but the feds nixed the idea as they don't have the resources to man another Terminal. This is also the reason why TACA left Boston. The feds did not want to open immigration and customs for a single red-eye flight running a few times a week.

Northwest should be kicked out of Terminal E. They are enjoying cheap rates as they have been there forever. I believe 2009 will be the last year of their lease in Terminal E. They really should be in Terminal A with Delta and Continental.

[atlantaden]

You might be correct about TACA but it was MassPort (confirmed by several very senior Delta executives) who insisted that ALL arriving flights that require customs/INS services have to arrive at Terminal E though those same departing flights could depart from any terminal. Even Delta's CEO at the time, Leo Mullins, flew up to Boston to add his weight to the discussions but MassPort held firm. Seriously, if the Feds put a halt to an increase in European flights because of a lack of INS/Customs manpower the Mass Congressional Delegation and the Governor himself would have raised hell. Delta wanted all it's passengers to have the convenience of not having to leave it's terminal to make international/domestic connections. JFK, I believe, has 5 terminals with customs/INS, including Delta's terminal and American's newly constructed terminal.

[ChunkyMonkey]

If that is so, then I hope they at least had the insight to create some possibility of adding INS/customs in A for the future. I know AA was planning to add FIS in Terminal B before 9/11 ended its plans.

[mass88]

Originally Posted by ChunkyMonkey

I don't think this is entirely Massport's fault. I believe original plans called for immigration/customs in Terminal A, but the feds nixed the idea as they don't have the resources to man another Terminal. This is also the reason why TACA left Boston. The feds did not want to open immigration and customs for a single red-eye flight running a few times a week.

Northwest should be kicked out of Terminal E. They are enjoying cheap rates as they have been there forever. I believe 2009 will be the last year of their lease in Terminal E. They really should be in Terminal A with Delta and Continental.

Did Taca used to run all of its flight to BOS as a red-eye? Or was this a schedule change they wanted to make to help the flight be more profitable and they were denied and as a result cut services.


How much space is there realy in terminal A for 3 airlines to operate out of. Given that Northwest sends an A330-300 daily to Amsterdam, the 330 would take up quite a bit of space over there.

[ChunkyMonkey]

I think it was for aircraft utilization.

I don't think that NWA will move to A. Continental was quite reluctant and took quite a bit of coaxing from Massport. I think the problem is the lease is so much higher than the other terminals. Of course, all this might be moot, if Delta merges with NWA. I think that NWA's operations are not that huge. If NWA does move to A, I think the Amsterdam flights will probably stay in Terminal E. It's quite a way to tow it and most of Boston's traffic is O&D anyway, who knows, hopefully KLM can take over from NWA. I would like to see them over NWA anyday.

[whighlander]

I think some of this relates to the plan to have a China flight and some Middle East (Quatar, Emirates) airline start 787 Service within the next two years

The 787 will need to have a specialized gate area

Westy

[kmp1284]

The only chance Boston has at a middle east carrier is Emirates and it's going to be a lot more than 2 years, probably more like 5-8, maybe 10, quite likely never. Quatar, as you call it, is not coming to Boston. Etihad may, but that's even less likely than Emirates. As for the 787 needing a specialized gate area, the 787 was designed as it was largely so that unlike the Airbus A380, airports would not have to be extensively updated to accomodate it.

[Suffolk 83]

why would the 787 need a specialized gate area? its a mid-sized jetliner. The airbus a380 is the biggest in the world you can't compare the two

[kmp1284]

They don't need a specialized gate area, as I said, it's around the same size as a 767. WH has no clue what he's talking about on this one.