FlyORH: Predictions For Worcester Airport in 2014
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Thursday, February 27, 2014
Bill Randell, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™
Bill Randell predicts JetBlue expanding its destinations to include the beautiful San Juan, Puerto Rico.
We just hit the passed 100 days and 30,000 passengers with JetBlue. It is as good a time as any to make my predictions. As well as JetBlue has done since its inception, I do not see any new carriers coming into ORH. In the words of Massport CEO Tom Glynn, Worcester Regional Airport will “grow with JetBlue.”
Many people say to me that we need daily shuttle service by JetBlue to their hub, JFK, where we could then connect anywhere JetBlue flies. There are two reasons why this will not happen. First, we do not have the CAT III landing system installed. Secondly, and more importantly, we do not have the business traveler looking at Worcester as an option.
We are a leisure airport right now and for the foreseeable future. We are the airport that you use to fly to Florida, the Caribbean or maybe Myrtle Beach. There is nothing wrong with that and it is a huge market for us to tap into. We will not be flying, for example, into JetBlue new slots in Washington DC.
The near future
I do see JetBlue expanding service at ORH in 2014. In my opinion it comes down to three options:
1. Increasing to two flights per day to Orlando and Fort Lauderdale.
2. One flight per day to San Juan.
3. Adding another Florida destination once per day (West Palm, Fort Myers or Tampa)
Based on the fact that I have been seeing a lot of people connecting to San Juan, a strong Latino population in Central Massachusetts, and the success of the daily flight to San Juan from Hartford, my prediction is that their next step to grow at Worcester Regional Airport will be a daily flight to San Juan before the end of the year.
Bill Randell is the President of Advantage Benefits, an insurance brokerage house specializing in employee benefits with an emphasis on health insurance, based in Worcester since 1992. He can be contacted at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter (@FlyORH).
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