In Green Airport ‘s terminal
From Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com
In other travel news, T.F. Green Airport has seen declines in passenger traffic and has lost service that had been provided by several airlines in the past couple of years. That’s in part because of the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max, an airplane particularly efficient for small and medium-size airports.
Depressingly, except for flights to Toronto, Green no longer has international flights; nor does it yet have nonstop service to the West Coast. The big growth potential once seen in the longer Green runway built, after far too long a delay because of Warwick nimbyism/local politics, to lure bigger planes to serve these distant places, is still unfulfilled.
But part of the problem is simply marketing. Too few travelers know how pleasant and convenient Green is. Far too few people realize that Green is usually far easier to use for those traveling to all of southeastern New England than is Logan International Airport, in often gridlocked Boston. Or that there’s an MBTA station to serve Green, which is right off Route 95, the main street of the East Coast. Green should also be more heavily promoted as an entry point for Cape Cod and the Islands, and even for eastern Long Island, via the New London-Orient Point ferry. And Rhode Island has a large college-student population, many of whom come from outside New England. Can Green’s charm and conveniences be better promoted to them? And shouldn’t the name be changed to something more likely to draw travelers? New England International Airport? Southern New England International Airport? As with Connecticut’s Bradley International Airport, it’s important to get “International’’ in there.
I don’t think I’d use “Rhode Island’’ in the name – too many from far away confuse it with Long Island – or Providence – too many confuse it with Provincetown.
Given the density of population in its current and potential markets and its companies and institutions (including the Navy complex on Aquidneck Island) with national and global interests, Green, not Bradley, should be the second-biggest airport in New England, after Logan.
