Manchester–Boston Regional Airport

Terminal of Manchester Airport

In 1992, a long-term expansion and improvement plan started to take shape. Two years later, a new 158,000-square-foot (14,700 m²) terminal designed by HNTB and Lavallee Brensinger opened, providing ample room for larger jets.[10] The airport continued to expand, opening a new parking garage and parking lots in the next years, as well as working to reconstruct the runways and taxiways. In 1998, these expansions paid off, with MetroJet, Northwest, and Southwest all beginning service. The airport prospered from the "Southwest Effect", in which competing airlines increase service and decrease fares to compete with the low-cost carrier. Throughout the 1990s, Manchester outpaced almost every other similarly sized airport in terms of passenger growth. In 2003, Runway 17/35 was extended from 7,001 feet (2,134 m) to 9,250 feet (2,820 m), allowing non-stop service to Las Vegas.

In April 2006, the aldermen of the city of Manchester voted to change the name of the airport to "Manchester–Boston Regional Airport" in an effort to increase its visibility to travelers around the country.[11]

Map of MHT routes 2005

In 2006 the airport started to experience a decrease in passengers flying through its facility, with service to only twelve cities. In 2017, the airport served the fewest passengers since 1998. United Airlines canceled its Chicago O'Hare service in July 2018, making Newark its only destination from Manchester, which was replaced by Washington Dulles in March 2019. In 2020 Delta consolidated its service to Boston. Southwest as of 2021 has diminished service to four cities, with Delta Air Lines serving Atlanta once daily instead of twice.

The decline in service is due to increased activity at Logan International Airport in Boston and to mergers between airlines, which led to decreased flights. When Southwest entered Logan in 2009, it also significantly reduced prices at Logan, prompting more people to fly out of Boston rather than Manchester.[12]

Departure gates

In 2019, American Airlines announced service to Chicago O'Hare after United discontinued its O'Hare service. United announced service to Washington-Dulles instead of Newark in March 2019.

The airport administration hired a new airport director[13] to help it bring back passengers to Manchester, as well as to help bring in new airlines and destinations.[12] In November 2020, Delta Airlines announced that they would be discontinuing service to MHT.[14] On February 9, 2021, Aeroterm[15] announced that it would develop a new cargo facility at the airport.

On June 16, 2021, Spirit Airlines announced it would be starting service to four Florida cities in October; it later announced that seasonal service to Myrtle Beach would start April 2022. Spirit is the first new airline to begin service at Manchester-Boston since Air Canada in 2004.[16][17]

On November 9, 2021, the airport announced that United is discontinuing service to Washington Dulles January 4, 2022, once again leaving Newark as the only destination from Manchester, NH, on United.[18]

In November 2022, Amazon Air, operated by Atlas Air, began service from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport utilizing Boeing 767 aircraft; current operations now include a flight from Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport, which then continues to Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

On March 15th, 2023 Avelo Airlines announced nonstop service to Raleigh-Durham International Airport twice weekly, utilizing the Boeing 737-800.

In 2007, construction began on Raymond Wieczorek Drive (then known as Manchester Airport Access Road), an expressway connection from the F.E. Everett Turnpike.[25] Before this project, access to the airport was limited to local roads off Interstate 293/NH Route 101. The access road opened on November 10, 2011, connecting the airport and NH Route 3A in Litchfield with the Everett Turnpike and U.S. Route 3 in Bedford.[26]

From November 13, 2006, to June 30, 2008, the airport operated a shuttle bus — free to ticketed passengers — that ran every two hours, 24 hours a day, to the Anderson Regional Transportation Center in Woburn, Massachusetts (45 minutes), on to the Sullivan Square subway station in Boston (75 minutes), and back to the airport via Woburn.[27] The free service shut down after a private company, Flight Line Inc., began operating a paid service along similar routes on July 1, 2008. Flight Line offers hourly service between the airport, several points in northern Massachusetts, and the city of Boston for $39 each way. Reservations are required.[28]

Greyhound buses offer three trips daily from Manchester Airport on its Boston–Montreal service. Buses serve Concord and Hanover in New Hampshire; White River Junction, Montpelier, and Burlington in Vermont; and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Montreal in Quebec, Canada, when going northbound. They serve South Station and Logan International Airport in Boston on the southbound trips.

The Manchester Transit Authority provides hourly bus service between the passenger terminal and downtown Manchester.

A proposed extension of the MBTA Commuter Rail system's Lowell Line would see trains that currently terminate at Lowell running as far north as Manchester.[29] The proposed Bedford/MHT Station would be constructed across the Merrimack River in Bedford underneath Raymond Wieczorek Drive, and would be intended to serve the airport and the town of Bedford.[30]

The New Hampshire State Rail Plan of 2012 stated that freight could also be viable on the rail extension, perhaps opening up more freight opportunities for the airport.[31]

On June 3, 1928, at 3:02 p.m., Lt. George Wilson's Curtiss OX-5 nosedived 40 feet (12 m) and crashed at the south end of the airport while landing before thousands of onlookers. Wilson received a gash on the face, and one passenger was pinned in the wreckage and sustained shock, cuts and bruises. The cause of the crash was a motor failure, and the plane was badly crumpled with its nose buried deeply in a swamp.

On February 19, 1933, Real N. Bourke died when the Arrow Sport two-seater he had hired from Northeast Airways burst into flames a quarter mile north of Manchester Airport on the Boone Farm. He had made a number of steep banks and wing-overs, and his landing gear struck a gully prior to the crash. It was Manchester's first fatality.

On August 5, 1938, at about 6:15 p.m., student pilot Avalon Robert Lilly Jr. was injured when a WACO biplane, powered by a Wright Whirlwind motor, attempted a loop 400 feet (120 m) off the ground, but fell and crashed 200 feet (61 m) from the Manchester Airport Administration Building. The plane belonged to Donald Lewis, who was at the controls and suffered major injuries. Lilly later died on August 12, 1938.

On December 10, 1942, a fighter plane connected to Manchester Airport (Grenier Field) crashed in Mont Vernon around noon; the unidentified pilot was uninjured.

On April 24, 1944, at 9:00 a.m., a four-motored Army B-24 Liberator bomber (#42-5111) took off from Manchester Airport and crashed into a densely wooded area on Fort Mountain near Epsom, killing all ten crew on board.

On November 29, 1944, at 9:30 a.m., another Army B-24L (#44-49669) crashed nose-first in Pawtuckaway State Forest in Nottingham, 16 miles (26 km) northeast of Manchester, killing all nine crew. It had taken off from Manchester and was headed to Gander, Newfoundland, Canada.

On August 5, 1948, at 5:00 p.m., an AT-11 training plane and an A-26 attack bomber collided over Manchester airport, killing four.

On June 7, 1949, at 8:43 p.m., 1st Lt. William A. Primm of the 97th Fighter Squadron died during a routine training flight when he attempted an emergency landing and crashed his F-51 fighter at the end of Runway 24.

On April 22, 1971, at 5:00 pm, an 18-year-old single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza, registered to New England Aviation Corp., crashed during takeoff, killing four people (one crew, three passengers).

On July 31, 1973, Delta Air Lines Flight 723 from Burlington, Vermont, to Boston was diverted to Manchester to pick up passengers stranded by a flight cancellation. After leaving Manchester it continued to Boston, but during landing there the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 hit a sea wall at the end of Runway 4, killing 83 passengers and six crew.[32]

On October 3, 1979, a small private plane carrying Agnetha Fältskog of the Swedish pop band ABBA was traveling on one of the last legs of their 1979 North American tour (New York City to Boston). The plane flew through one of the worst severe storms in recent Connecticut history. It is speculated that the plane may have encountered a tornado during this event. It was able to make a diversion to Manchester landing on a second attempt while low on fuel. This was a key moment in starting Fältskog's fear of air travel.[33]

On November 2, 1990, US Airways Flight 506 to Pittsburgh collided with a flock of birds after takeoff. No one was injured and the DC-9 returned safely to MHT.

On January 22, 1991, at 10:10 am, Continental Express Flight 3550 from Newark went off runway 7. No one was injured and the cause of the crash was ruled to be a hydraulic steering mechanism failure.

On September 23, 2020, Air Force 2, a modified Boeing 757 carrying then US Vice President Mike Pence on a flight from Manchester to Washington, D.C., suffered a bird strike while climbing out of the airport. The airplane returned safely and the former Vice President and his staff flew out on a cargo airplane later that day. No injuries were reported as a result of the incident.[34]

On January 19, 2021, a Piper Malibu Meridian (Reg: N641WA) flying in from Olathe, Kansas, skidded off the runway while landing, and emergency services were dispatched to the aircraft's location. The pilot and passengers all made it out with no major injuries.[35]

On December 10, 2021, a Castle Air Swearingen Metroliner, flying in from Essex County Airport in New Jersey, crashed into the western bank of the Merrimack River, while attempting to land on runway 6 around 11:30 pm. The pilot, who was the sole occupant, was killed upon impact.[36]

On January 5, 2022, a FedEx Boeing 767 Bound for Memphis Slid off Taxiway H due to an ice storm and struck the airport's anemometer around 9:00am. No injuries were reported and the left wing of the plane received moderate damage. This event led to a three hour long shutdown of airport operations.[37]