Logan International Airport was once again near the top of the Department of Transportation's (DOT) list of the nation's most delayed airports for the first five months of 2001 as the nation's 4th most delayed airport. More than 29-percent of Logan flights were delayed by 15 minutes or more January - May 2001.
Delays at Logan continue to frustrate passengers and local businesses while we let a solution idle on the drawing board, said Massport Executive Director and CEO Virginia Buckingham. New England's premier airport needs a new runway to finally bring relief to the millions of people who travel for a family vacation or to close an important business deal.
Logan has consistently been rated one of the top-ten most delay prone airports in the nation for more than a decade. While flights at Logan have decreased by more than five-percent over the last two years, Logan's delays continue to be amongst the worst for U.S. airports.
Some of Logan's delays are caused by New England weather (snow, fog, visibility), but a third of all airport related delays are due to an inadequate runway configuration. When winds blow from the northwest, Logan is reduced from three operating runways to two. With strong winds Logan drops down to one runway available, causing hours of delays for arriving flights. These northwest wind delays can occur on bright, clear days when weather would not normally cause delays.
To provide relief to the travelling public, Massport has proposed Runway 14/32, a new 5,000-foot runway with all arrivals and departures occurring over water. The runway would reduce delays up to 90% on northwest wind days, 45-55% in good weather, and 30% annually. The new runway would also allow 75,000 flights a year to arrive and depart over the water and away from neighboring communities.