Travel will be less stressful at Logan International Airport now that the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) has installed 35 rocking chairs in the airport's terminal areas. The latest Massport initiative to improve the passengers' experience at the airport is the placement today of hunter green rockers in the gate areas, common spaces, near windows and Kidports.

"Whether it is new terminals and walkways or improved cab service and airline passenger standards, we are making Logan a better airport for the 27 million people a year who fly in and out of Boston," said Virginia Buckingham, Massport Executive Director and CEO. "Providing a comfortable place to sit and read a book or watch the planes takeoff is something our passengers will appreciate and deserve."

The pilot program will be monitored and chairs will be moved according to passenger input and needs. Depending on the response from the traveling public, Massport will consider placing additional chairs in the terminals.

While new to Logan, rocking chairs have been placed in at least three other major airports in the United States. Charlotte/Douglas International Airport in North Carolina first introduced two rocking chairs as a part of an art exhibit called, "Front Porch", in one of the terminals. Passengers not only gravitated toward the exhibit, they became part of it, sitting in the chairs and rocking. When it came time to dismantle the exhibit and take the rockers away, passengers petitioned the airport to keep the chairs in the terminal. Charlotte/Douglas Airport now has about 30 rocking chairs in the terminals. Philadelphia International and Newark airports also have rocking chairs.

This most recent effort builds on several new initiatives launched this year. Just last month Massport unveiled a customer service training program for taxicab drivers at Logan. In January 2001 Massport initiated a program to provide delayed passengers with cots, snacks and emergency baby supplies. In February, Massport developed Guaranteed Passenger Standards for airlines at Logan and has been monitoring airlines for their adherence to the standards. Massport is also seeking to address passengers' number one complaint about Logan, delays, by building a new unidirectional runway at Logan, which would reduce delays by 30 percent annually.

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