Neighbors don't like taxiway, but pilots do
Logan plan would cut collision risks, delays, backers say
By Peter J. Howe, Boston Globe, 09/06/2006
As Logan International Airport officials gird for a pounding from East Boston residents tonight over a proposed $55 million taxiway, they can count on strong support from one group: airline pilots.
Over the past 18 months, Logan has experienced a spate of incidents in which planes violated minimum clearances -- technically known as runway incursions. Pilots say the so-called centerfield taxiway project could substantially reduce the danger of planes coming too close to each other because it would give pilots more space to drive or park aircraft.
Planned is a 9,300-foot taxiway between two parallel southwest-to-northeast runways.
Planes use taxiways to get to runways for takeoffs or to drive to terminals after landings. If federal regulators approve the project this fall, construction could begin next year, and the new taxiway could open in 2009.
"It would really improve the situation when it comes to runway incursions, and that's a huge issue for all of us in the industry," said Dave Bushy, vice president of flight operations for JetBlue Airways Corp. and a pilot who has flown big jets out of Logan.
"Nothing replaces vigilance and good air-traffic controlling," he said, "but if you can put the right infrastructure in place to operate efficiently, I think you've taken a big leap."
"In my view, we probably should have done it a long time ago," said Ed Schmidt, chief pilot for US Airways at LaGuardia Airport in New York and Logan. "It's a positive step for, number one, safety, and number two, efficiency, and it's really going to clean up the flow of traffic on the ground."
Top pilots from American Airlines and Northwest Airlines said they also back the taxiway.
In the 14 months ended in November, Logan reported 17 incidents in which planes violated mandatory minimum clearances, the most of any US airport. The most serious incident happened in late June 2005, when US Airways and Aer Lingus jets with a total of 381 passengers on board came within 106 vertical feet and 379 horizontal feet of each other.
In the past 12 months, the number of runway incursions dropped to eight, said Danny Levy, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Port Authority.
Nevertheless, Massport's chief executive, Thomas J. Kinton Jr., said the new taxiway remains "critically needed" and will cut ground delays by 10,000 hours a year, or as much as 22 percent.
The project faces fierce neighborhood opposition, however, because it would push jet noise and pollution closer to areas like Court Road in Winthrop and East Boston's Orient Heights. Despite Kinton's assurances that Logan will never serve more than 120 arrivals and departures per hour, even with the new taxiway, many neighbors see it as the latest in 50 years of Logan expansion moves.
City Councilor Salvatore J. LaMattina, a project foe, is convening a council hearing tonight on the plan at East Boston High School.
"It would bring toxic aircraft fumes much closer to Winthrop and East Boston, and it clearly enhances the capacity of Logan Airport," said John A. Vitagliano, a Winthrop resident who has battled Logan's expansion.
But pilots say the project should make neighbors' lives better by reducing delays and exhaust. "You'd have fewer airplanes sitting on the ground," JetBlue's Bushy said.