Manchester-Boston Regional Airport

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Manchester • Boston Regional Airport
IATA: MHT - ICAO: KMHT
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		City of Manchester
Serves		Manchester, New Hampshire
Elevation AMSL		266 ft (81 m)
Coordinates		42°55′57.2″N, 71°26′08.4″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
17/35	9,250	2,819	Asphalt
6/24	6,850	2,088	Asphalt

FAA diagram of Manchester Airport

Manchester-Boston Regional Airport (IATA: MHT, ICAO: KMHT) is a public airport located 3 miles (5 km) south of Manchester, New Hampshire on the county line of Hillsborough and Rockingham counties. The airport lies in two communities, Manchester and Londonderry; it was known as Manchester Airport until it added the name of nearby Boston, Massachusetts on April 18, 2006.

1 History
2 Facilities
3 Airlines
4 Air Cargo Operators
5 External links
6 Notes

[edit] History

The Manchester airport was founded in June of 1927, when the town's Board of Mayor and Aldermen was convinced to put forward $15,000 towards the project. By October of that year, a board of aviation had been founded and ground was broken at an 84-acre site near Pine Island Pond. It took only a month for two 1,800-foot runways to be constructed. After the formation of Northeast Airways at the site in 1933, the first passenger terminal was built. By World War II the airport had a further established infrastructure, and became the home for up to 6,000 Air Force troops and an Anti-Submarine Warfare aerial squadron. After the war, the airfield was renamed Grenier Field by the War Department in memory of a pilot and Manchester native who died some ten years earlier in an air crash.

The current Manchester airport began to take shape after the 1960s. In 1961, a new $850,000 terminal opened. In 1966, the military removed its remaining forces, leaving the airport open for expansion. Twelve years after the departure of the army, the airfield was once again renamed Manchester Airport.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the airport was served by Northeast Airlines with the DC-6, DC-9, and FH-227. Delta Air Lines absorbed Northeast in 1972 and continued to serve the airport with the DC-9 until 1982 when it discontinued service at Manchester. In the mid 1980s, airlines once again started offering jet service out of Manchester. United Airlines inaugurated service at Manchester in 1984 with two daily flights to Chicago's O'Hare Airport. This was part of their 50 States campaign, which positioned United Airlines as the only carrier to serve all 50 states with mainline service. The Boeing 727 and Boeing 737 were initially used on the Chicago flights, which would often make intermediate stops in cities like Providence, Albany, Syracuse, or Burlington to pick up or drop off passengers. Manchester was also a 'tag-on' for United Airlines flights heading from Bangor and Portland, Maine to Chicago, but the carrier no longer serves either city with mainline aircraft.

In the early 1990s United Airlines also began flights between Manchester and Washington Dulles International Airport near Washington D.C. But creation of a north-south hub at Dulles didn't work for United, and heavy competition in this market led to a quick exit. The Boeing 737 was used for this short-lived service, which comprised about four daily circuits between the two airports. US Airways started service at Manchester about a year after United Airlines did, by connecting their hubs at Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. The carrier used the DC-9 and BAC 111 aircraft. Both carriers expanded service at Manchester over the years with bigger planes and more flights. United Airlines now runs a strict nonstop schedule to and from Chicago with no intermediate stops or tag-ons. The Boeing 757 has been used by both United Airlines and US Airways at Manchester, which stands as the largest passenger-carrying plane to serve the Airport in scheduled service. The Airbus A320 series of aircraft is also commonly used by United Airlines, Northwest Airlines, and (occasionally) by USAirways.

In 1992, a long-term expansion and improvement plan started to take shape. Two years after beginning, a new 158,000-square foot terminal opened, providing ample room for larger jets. The airport continued to expand, opening a new parking garage and parking lots in the next years, as well as working to reconstruct the runways and taxiways. In 1998, these expansions paid off, with MetroJet, Northwest Airlines, and Southwest Airlines all beginning service. Southwest airlines in particular has benefited the airport greatly, inspiring the "Southwest effect", which inspires competing airlines to increase service and decrease fares in order to compete with the low cost carrier. Throughout the 1990s, Manchester Airport outpaced almost every other similarly-sized airport in terms of passenger growth.

For passenger service, the airport is currently the fourth-largest in New England, after Logan International Airport in Boston, Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, and T. F. Green Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island. Municipalities within the Boston Metropolitan Area in partnership with their state governments in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, decided to make this airport and T. F. Green Airport alternatives to Logan International Airport in order to avoid having to build a new airport.

Manchester Airport is the third-largest cargo airport in New England. Only Boston's Logan Airport and Bradley International exceed Manchester in terms of cargo handled. In 2005, the airport processed 150 million pounds of freight. Most of this was carried aboard aircraft flown by FedEx, UPS, and DHL. All three serve Manchester Airport with large, cargo-specific jets, including the Airbus A300, DC-10, and MD-11 by FedEx and UPS.

UPS uses Manchester to 'feed' the rest of northern New England by contracting with Wiggins Aviation,^{[citation needed]} which flies smaller prop-driven planes to places like Portland, Augusta, Bangor, Presque Isle, Rutland and other communities. To handle this 'regional sort,' UPS built a sorting facility where packages coming in from the Company's Louisville hub are redistributed to trucks or to the Wiggins feeder aircraft. FedEx previously used Manchester as a regional sorting station as well, but now supports the northern New England destinations via direct flights from Memphis to Portland, Maine and Burlington, Vermont. A contract with the U.S. Postal Service fills the FedEx jets (coming from hubs in Memphis and Indianapolis) with mail in addition to the typical assortment of express and overnight packages. DHL, the smallest of the dedicated freight carriers at Manchester, flies a single daily 727-200 on a Wilmington-Allentown-Manchester-Wilmington routing.

In April 2006, the aldermen of the city of Manchester voted to change the name of the airport to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in an effort to increase its visibility to travelers around the country.^[1]

A high-frequency shuttle bus pilot program, offered free of charge to ticketed airline passengers, began on November 13, 2006. The bus runs every two hours, 24 hours a day, between the airport, the Anderson Regional Transportation Center in Woburn, Massachusetts, and the Sullivan Square subway station in Boston. The service will operate for a six-month period, after which it will be evaluated by the airport.^[2]