WORCESTER, Mass., April 3 (UPI) -- JetBlue Airways announced plans to serve Massachusetts' Worcester Regional Airport, offering regularly scheduled passenger service there in November.
JetBlue will offer two daily flights from Worcester to Florida starting Nov. 7 on 100-seat Embraer 190 aircraft, The Boston Globe reported Wednesday.
City, state and Massachusetts Port Authority officials have been courting the airline for about a year to offer regularly scheduled passenger flights since Direct Air shut down a year ago.
Airport owner Massport gave JetBlue a $275,000 break on airport fees and charges for two years, as well as $150,000 in free marketing, the Globe said.
The Worcester airport has had many challenges, including fog, outdated landing systems and a road to the facility that goes through 5 miles of city streets. The facility also had had trouble keeping airlines.
In 2001, Delta Connection, American Eagle, US Airways Express and Pan American flew out of Worcester airport but by 2003 they were gone, the Globe said. Direct Air started flying out of Worcester in 2008 but it hadn't had regularly scheduled service for two years.
Massport, took ownership of the airport from the city in 2010 and invested $8.9 million in runway maintenance, heating and air conditioning systems and terminal repairs. Last month, Massport said it will add a parallel taxiway and install a new instrument landing system to allow planes to land in the lowest levels of visibility.
