Is air travel coming of age on Cape Cod?
by Joseph SantangeloDo you want to go on a business trip or relax in the Sunbelt without the hassle of driving to Boston or Providence? Now you can, with new one-ticket itineraries from Hyannis to cities including Washington, West Palm Beach, Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Would your business benefit by attracting more tourists from Canada, Europe and distant parts of the United States with easier air travel? It’s possible, with more daily connections through Boston and New York.
But what about true global mobility provided by a modern airline terminal for business travelers, visitors and mature, travel-oriented residents of the region?
Chances are improving for a $43.5 million airport upgrade, including a new $20 million terminal, by 2010. Better airline service and more destination options will likely follow. Efficient air travel to and from Cape Cod may finally be coming of age.
Barnstable airport, though one of New England’s busiest, currently has the ambiance of a 1950s bus station, with rutted access roads and limited parking. Plans have been on the drawing board for about a decade to build a new terminal, attract another airline and provide better service.
This year, change is in the air.
Regulatory hurdles for Barnstable Municipal Airport improvements have been cleared. Enhanced air service by national carrier JetBlue Airways and partner Cape Air has begun, adding to long-established US Airways Express and short-hop shuttle companies Island Airlines and Nantucket Airlines (Cape Air’s sister company.)
The Cape Cod area is rare: a long-time vacation retreat with almost 250,000 year-round residents that is growing in jobs, population and income. Yet airline service to the outside world is limited.
A recent study identified about 1.3 million air trips a year to and from the Cape area, but the vast majority of local passengers, about 70 percent, now use Logan International Airport. Only 16 percent of Cape air travelers fly from the Cape. The rest go to T.F. Green Airport in Providence. Logan handles 27.7 million yearly passengers, Hyannis about 200,000, mostly park-and-ride service to Nantucket.
A growing affluent population, projected crowding at major metropolitan airports and the significant numbers who already fly to and from Hyannis are driving the improved local air service. The airport itself also is an important economic asset to be cultivated, with 43 onsite tenant businesses, 1,143 jobs and a direct injection of $170 million into Barnstable and the region.
“The current terminal is nice, but it has served its purpose,” said Airport Manager Quincy “Doc” Mosby. “As we go into the 21st century, with demographic changes, we see more people are traveling and it makes sense to capture them.”
“When we evaluate the economics of it, that’s huge,” added Mosby. “We need a terminal to accommodate the travel needs of 1.3 million people now using Providence and Logan. From an economic viewpoint, a better terminal and better service will benefit the Cape Cod region.”
The Cape Cod Commission earlier this year approved a plan for numerous airport improvements, including a new 52,000-square-foot terminal to replace the old 1957 building of 22,930 square feet. Approval is conditional on first obtaining financing and completing new access roads.
A new terminal and related airport improvements would accommodate up to 2,000 passengers a day, divide departures from arrivals, improve baggage handling, and create a secure waiting area for off-Cape flights and non-secure area for air taxi service.
Cape Air, the nation’s largest regional airline, inaugurated joint service with JetBlue in March, so passengers can fly with a single ticket from Hyannis to Boston and transfer to nationwide JetBlue flights without having to claim and recheck baggage.
According to Cape Air President Dan Wolf, “Air travel is cyclical. You might say it’s coming of age all over again. We’re about the most cyclical industry you could be in. It depends on market forces whether this is part of the cyclical ebb and flow or the progression of something bigger.”
Wolf said the rule of thumb is that air travelers are willing to drive up to 90 minutes to an airport. “As surface transportation becomes more crowded and congested, people are going to look at the alternative of flying to Boston. They don’t have to worry if the Southeast Expressway is backed up. This will be much more predictable.”
In partnership with JetBlue, Cape Air will market the Hyannis-Boston route more than it has done in the past decade. Recently, it has promoted its Provincetown-Boston flights with $49.50 winter promotional fares. Cape Air operates the 20- to 25-minute Hyannis-Boston leg of a JetBlue trip on 10-seat Cessna 402 commuter aircraft, familiar to most seasoned regional passengers.
Why will the future be different than the past?
In the past, Cape Cod air service has come and gone, including airlines such as Air New England, Provincetown Boston Airlines, Delta Airlines, Gull Air and Wills Air.
Part of the problem, according to Wendy K. Northcross, CEO of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, is that “the Cape still tends to be a seasonal destination, and many companies need to earn a year-round margin in order to sustain a level of service that will attract passengers.”
“Travelers today,” she added, “want excellent service, good amenities and ease of planning and purchasing. The upgrades planned at the terminal are long overdue, and the plan brings with it much-needed parking and roadway improvements, as well as pollution control and cleanup projects. The chamber members who cater to the [corporate] meeting and incentive business are especially interested in streamlined air connections as well as ground connections from the airport to their hotels and meeting spaces.”
The chamber and Cape Air also are working on a possible “hands-free” vacation itinerary from Ireland to Hyannis with no auto travel required. Foreign travelers can take advantage of a favorable currency exchange rate with the United States.
Jobs generated by a new airport terminal would include dozens of construction positions earning as much as $45 an hour, plus 31 permanent jobs paying an estimated $862,600 a year in total. Airports traditionally spin off and attract other businesses, which may produce additional indirect benefits deriving from the airport improvements. A package shipping company, for example, has expressed interest in moving onto the airport property.
Proponents see a net reduction in local traffic, as several local businesses will be bought out to make way for improved access and remote parking. Highway congestion also could ease, if more visitors and cargo move by air rather than by car or truck. Other benefits include improved appearance, landscaping and building design.
Financing remains a major challenge
Financing, however, is a major challenge to be overcome. Of the estimated cost, more than half is projected to come from the Federal Aviation Administration and from the commonwealth of Massachusetts, leaving about $19 million to come from the town of Barnstable, which would be repaid from airport revenues. Chamber of commerce and political leaders support the airport expansion as long as it does not jeopardize other town priorities.
Published in Cape Business May/June 2007
Joseph Santangelo Joseph Santangelo has been a statehouse bureau chief, a corporate executive and currently works for the Connecticut Legislature. 
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