Worcester Out of Airport Business for $17 Million

Courtesy of NECN

It’s hard to believe it has been a year since we posted about Mass Port agreeing to buy the Worcester Regional Airport from the city of Worcester.  The negotiations are finally over and Mass Port has agreed to  buy it for $17 million and some land transfers.

The $17 million is also much needed in these challenging times for cities and towns.  The Town Manager already has plans for some of the money.  A further benefit will be that Worcester will no longer need to budget expenses for running the airport.

Though the purchase still needs to be officially agreed to by various parties it seems like the Worcester City Council is more than happy to get rid of the responsibility of owning an airport that they have not been able to make profitable.  Though Mass Port has been running the airport for a while now(10 years), the actual purchase will hopefully trigger a new push to get more carriers and flights to Worcester’s airport.

The Telegram has brought up the issue of the access road to the airport as being something that many feels needs to be addressed to give the airport a chance of competing with the other New England airports including Boston’s Logan.  Central Massachusetts needs an airport to help grow business opportunities.  The city of Worcester seems to understand this.  As importantly it seems that Massachusetts government understands that as well.  It doesn’t hurt to have Worcester’s former mayor Tim Murray as Lieutenant Governor to keep Central Mass concerns in the mix of economic discussions.

Worcester and those in central mass that want and need this airport to grow need to make sure they continue to push their needs to Mass Port.  The executive director of Mass Port Thomas Kinton Jr.emphasizes that though the desire is there the effort is a long term plan that needs continuing support for it to succeed.

Here is NECN’s report on the Worcester Regional Airport Sale: