Massport to Begin Layoffs, Buyouts, Furloughs as Logan Revenue Remains 'Worse than the Worst Case Scenario'

Nov. 19—Massport is moving forward with layoffs as the port authority prepares for an emergency landing in the face of projections "worse than the worst case scenario" amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Massachusetts Port Authority, which owns and operates Boston Logan International Airport, must cut about 25% of its workforce amid "a $400M budget problem," the authority says.

That's going to come from a combination of layoffs, voluntary buyouts of union and administrative workers, and furloughs of administrative staff, CEO Lisa Wieland told the Massport board on Thursday morning. The voluntary program will begin immediately, and the "involuntary separation" program — the layoffs — is expected to come in January.

In 2019, Logan saw 42 million passengers; this year, the "optimistic" forecast was 22 million, and the "worst case" 13 million, according to Massport documents. November and December, though — as September and October did already — are projected to come in below even that lowest estimate.

Board Chair Lewis Evangelidis, the Worcester sheriff, said the pandemic has led to "in many ways a worst-case scenario if not worse than the worst-case scenario."

He and the other board members approved Wieland's proposal to begin the downsizing.

"We are years — potentially many years — away from getting back to the number of passengers we carried last year," Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack, another board member, said.

The $400 million "problem" is substantially worse than the $300 million shortfall that the quasi-public agency was preparing for over the summer.

"We had to revise our forecast downward," Wieland told the board, saying Logan's passenger numbers are down to what they were in the mid 1970s. Last month was nearly 80% below October 2019, and this calendar year to date has had 70% fewer passengers than the first nine months of last year did.

"These tough decisions have to be made," board member Sean O'Brien, the head of the Teamsters Local 25, said, praising Wieland for her handling of a difficult situation.

Aviation Director Ed Freni said airlines are "cautiously" adding capacity around the holidays, but could pull that back if the demand doesn't follow.

Massport's Logan projections don't fully bounce back until after 2023. These are abrupt changes to the port authority, which is accustomed to being flush with cash, and has long been known as a cushy landing spot for end-of-career area pols. Massport had four honchos making more than $300,000 and 40 raking in more than $200,000 last year.

Over the summer, Massport announced it would halt some major construction work and implement other cost savings to plug the revenue gaps in hopes of avoiding layoffs.

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