Massport moves aimed at helping airlines trim expenses
Board OKs fees, leaves jobs vacant
Airlines operating at Logan International Airport are expected to save a collective $17 million to $18 million over the next nine months as the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan, tries to hold onto carriers burdened by high fuel bills.
After a summer-long search for savings, the Massport board yesterday approved airline rates and fees that will cut the expenses airlines are expected to face this fiscal year by an anticipated $13 million to $14 million. Massport will be able to pass on those savings by leaving about 35 vacant positions unfilled, reducing the hours of some offices and services, cutting back on discretionary spending, and other measures. It also acted on the airlines' suggestion that Massport refinance its costs for building facilities, just as homeowners refinance their mortgages.
Additionally, Massport's most recent fiscal year ended June 30 with a $4 million surplus. So it will funnel that money back to carriers, which could receive up to a couple of hundred thousand dollars each.
"Massport will actually be mailing checks - rebates - out to the airlines," said board member Ranch C. Kimball.
While the board approved a slight increase in the landing fee it charges carriers to offset the decline in flights arriving at Logan, overall "most airlines will pay less this year than what they budgeted for last year," said Thomas J. Kinton Jr., Massport's chief executive.
Airports across the country have been looking for ways to ease the financial plight of airlines, which increasingly are switching to smaller planes, flying fewer flights, and even eliminating routes to cope with rising fuel costs. In doing so, airports are looking out for their own wellbeing, too, said Greg Principato, president of Airports Council International/North America. That's because an airline is a tenant "that can leave your city at 500 miles per hour and not come back."
Massport's board also approved a $4-per-day customer facility charge on vehicles rented at the airport. The new fee, which rental car companies must start collecting by Dec. 1, will pay two-thirds of the $350 million cost for Massport to build a consolidated rental car facility.
Nicole C. Wong can be reached at nwong@globe.com 