Update on Luxury Hangar Project

At the May 14 Massport Community Advisory Committee (MCAC) meeting, Massport and the project proponents provided an update on the Hangar Project. The proponent is creating an updated Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for submission to the Massachusetts Secretary of Environmental Affairs, based on the finding of inadequacy of the original DEIR. There will be a number of changes expected in this submission.

In addition to the proponent’s updated disclosure of impacts, the Secretary recommended that a third party be engaged to review the submission and reconcile it with the analysis prepared by the citizen-funded Industrial Economics Report. The proponent has engaged a company called InterVISTAS to do this analysis, which will include a review of the controversial ferry flight analysis from the original report.

The proponent suggested at the meeting that the nature of use of the jet hangars will likely be a mix of private jets and jet air taxi service. This is important because air taxis generate approximately twice the number of operations and greenhouse gasses as private jets do.

The updated DEIR is likely to include a project phasing; in which the private jet hangars will not be built all at once but rather in two or more phases.

The proponents are now suggesting that the portion of the project on land not owned by Massport, including the old Navy hangar, will not be used for luxury jet hangars but rather will support business use, including possible R&D and pharmaceutical cargo. This will reduce the luxury jet hangar capacity of the project by approximately 10%

The updated DEIR will be submitted in late summer or early fall.