Worcester Regional Airport

Downtown Worcester, with Worcester Regional Airport tower in the background

Worcester's entry into the world of aviation began in 1925, when city officials commissioned a study to examine sites for the city's first airport. On the list of sites was land owned by a wealthy local citizen, Whitin Whitall. In 1927, Whitall, independently of the city commission, set up an airport on his land in North Grafton, 500 feet (150 m) above sea level. This two-runway airport opened for leisure travel on October 12, 1927.[3]

As air travel became more popular, airport expansion was the subject of a second study commissioned by the city. The Grafton airport was deemed too small to accommodate the air travel needs of the region. The location of the present airport, Tatnuck Hill, on the borders of Worcester, Leicester, and Paxton, was high on the commission's list. One problem noted by the commission was the weather: at 1,000-foot (300 m) above sea level, the Tatnuck site was often surrounded by fog. Despite this problem, the city eventually chose Tatnuck as the new site, and construction began in 1944. The airport was ceremoniously opened on May 4, 1946, and started regular passenger service one week later on May 10, 1946. The Grafton airport remained in operation until 1951, when the owners, due to the dwindling traffic, decided to dismantle the airport. The land was redeveloped as a residential neighborhood.[4] Leicester Airport, a small private airfield also built during the first half-century of aviation, was active until the 1970s. It still sits, now mostly overgrown in the shadow of Worcester Regional.[5]

Millions of dollars were spent replacing the old terminal, which hosted a half-dozen airlines before its demolition. In the mid 1980s and early 1990s, major carriers, such as Piedmont, Northwest Airlines, Continental, and USAir all flew mainline jets into Worcester. In addition, smaller carriers, like New York Air and Presidential Airways also had jet service. The small terminal had two ground level jetways built to accommodate the growth. But one by one, those carriers left. A succession of second-tier air carriers have come and gone over the last decade.

Allegiant Air began McDonnell-Douglas MD-80 service to Orlando/Sanford, FL (SFB) on December 22, 2005, and expanded to 4 flights per week in March 2006. Allegiant announced on August 22, 2006, that they would cut ties with the airport, citing high fuel costs and passenger loads in the 80% range as the reason for departure. The departure came as a huge surprise to the city as service was reported to be going great throughout Allegiant's entire tenure at the airport.[6]

On September 4, 2008, Direct Air announced they would begin service to Worcester beginning in November 2008, with flights from Orlando/Sanford, FL and Fort Myers/Punta Gorda, FL. The flights were initially operated by Virgin America using Airbus A320 aircraft, however Direct Air was forced to return the aircraft in June 2009 to suffice Virgin's rapidly expanding domestic routes. Following this Direct Air began carrying out flights on Boeing 737-400's owned by Xtra Airways. Due to this being a wet-lease agreement, there were times where the aircraft was unavailable and other aircraft had to be chartered for the flights. Such examples include an Airbus A320 from USA 3000 and a Boeing 757 from North American Airlines. In March 2009, Direct Air added additional flights to Myrtle Beach, SC. In July 2010, Direct Air expanded their Worcester service further to West Palm Beach, Florida. The airline had further plans to launch flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico and Nassau, Bahamas, but in March 2012, Direct Air suspended all operations and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on April 12, 2012.[7]

On April 3, 2013, JetBlue announced daily flights to Orlando, Florida and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, starting November 7, 2013.[8] This came after over a year of negotiating with the airline that included a competition among local residents to help advertise the city. This became the first mainline service out of Worcester in over a decade. The airline currently uses the 100 seat Embraer 190 for their flights, although occasionally they are substituted for the 165 seat Airbus A320. With the airport's current terminal facility JetBlue can operate two aircraft at a time with a pair of jetways and ticket counters.

A revamp of the defunct airline Air Florida had planned to fly out of Worcester at the beginning of 2015 as a scheduled charter operation but the airline never got off the ground.[9]

Worcester Regional Airport in 2014

On November 17, 2015, Rectrix Aviation opened a new FBO building and hangar in Worcester. Rectrix also plans to launch flights between Worcester and Cape Cod possibly as soon as the summer of 2016 with their newly established commercial airline operation, Rectrix Shuttle.[10] On October 14, 2016, Rectrix announced intentions to begin commercial service between Worcester and Baltimore within the next year. The flight is expected to be once daily each way, continuing to Sarasota, Florida after a quick stop at BWI.[11] This however is in question as Rectrix has not commented further on pursuing the route in over a year and has not acquired aircraft required to do so.

On February 28, 2017, JetBlue announced it would expand its service at the airport, adding a daily non-stop flight to New York City. JetBlue did not provide a start date, but airline officials said the new flights would not begin until after the landing system operational. This leaves a projected start date for the service in the early weeks of 2018.[12]

On June 26, 2017, Rectrix Aviation announced it would begin Beechcraft King Air 300 flights between Worcester and Hyannis on June 29, 2017. These flights ran from Thursday to Monday.[13] In May 2019, Worcester was removed from the airlines route map and service ended after two summers.[14]

On December 7, 2017, JetBlue announced its daily non-stop flights to New York City would begin on May 3, 2018; signaling the start of ticket sales.[15] The first revenue flight to New York left Worcester at 6 AM on May 3, 2018.

On April 9, 2018, American Airlines announced it would begin daily non-stop service from Worcester to Philadelphia on October 4, 2018. On June 4, American Airlines announced it would add a second daily flight and would be changing the schedule of the initial flight.[16] The service operates twice-daily on 50 seat Embraer ERJ-145s.[17] Despite the efforts to add an additional frequency, Piedmont announced in February only 4 months into service a reduction to only one daily flight starting in June 2019 due to low demand.[18]

On August 28, 2018, Delta Air Lines announced it would begin daily non-stop service from Worcester to Detroit Metropolitan Airport, operated by SkyWest Airlines (Delta Connection); which began on August 1, 2019, using 50 seat CRJ-200's.[19]

On January 25, 2020, Delta announced it would too, begin cutting back flights, dropping the Saturday flight to Detroit. There is some speculation that the Saturday flight may return in May, however this is not likely, as Delta is seeing only 50 to 60 percent loads to Detroit.

The airport had been under an operating agreement with Massport, the Massachusetts Port Authority, for several years. Under the agreement, the city and Massport paid the operating deficit together.

• July 1, 2004 – June 30, 2005 – Massport pays 100% of operating deficit not including debt service
• July 1, 2005 – June 30, 2006 – Massport pays 85% of operating deficit not including debt service
• July 1, 2006 – June 30, 2007 – Massport pays 68% of operating deficit not including debt service[20]

By law, Worcester had to transfer ownership of the airport to Massport sometime in 2009 or 2010.[21] As of July 1, 2010, Massport became the owner and operator of the airport.

Worcester Regional Airport was used for shooting of the films Captain Phillips, Knight and Day, The Judge and The Sea of Trees.[22]

On April 28, 2016 Massport approved funding for the installation of a Category IIIb instrument landing system at ORH. The geographic location of the airport, on top of the tallest hill in the city reaching approximately 1,000 feet above sea level, leaves Worcester on average with 40 more days of fog a year than nearby Boston.[26] The installation of the Category IIIb landing system will allow aircraft to land and depart in virtually all weather conditions. There are no Category IIIc airports in the United States; it is simply not allowed for safety reasons. The installation of the landing system also will include a jug-handle taxiway at the approach end of Runway 11.

The ILS system was completed in December 2017, and went live on March 19, 2018.[27] Completion of the ILS allowed JetBlue to add a flight from Worcester to John F. Kennedy International Airport, operated with an Embraer E190 aircraft. The JetBlue flights to Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando are also able to use the ILS. However, American Airlines' announced flight to Philadelphia will be operated by an Embraer 145 aircraft which will not be able to use the newly installed Category III system. It will however be able to operate down to Category II minimums allowing for improved weather standards versus fog problems seen at Worcester in the past. American confirmed plans of operating down to Category II standards and does not expect fog to be an issue with the new service.[28]

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