General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport (IATA: BOS, ICAO: KBOS, FAA LID: BOS) — more commonly known as Boston Logan International Airport — is an international airport located mostly in East Boston and partially in Winthrop, Massachusetts, United States. Covering 2,384 acres (965 ha), it has six runways and four passenger terminals, and employs an estimated 16,000 people. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems in which it is categorized as a large hub primary commercial service facility.
Opened in 1923 and named after General Edward Lawrence Logan, a 20th-century soldier and politician native to Boston, Logan International Airport is the largest airport in both Massachusetts and the New England region, in terms of passenger volume and cargo handling, as well as the busiest airport in the Northeastern United States outside the New York metropolitan area. The airport saw 43.5 million passengers in 2024, the most in its history. It has non-stop service to destinations throughout the United States and the world. Logan is the northeastern hub for Cape Air and is the secondary transatlantic hub for Delta Air Lines, serving several destinations in Europe. It is a focus city for JetBlue. American Airlines and United Airlines also carry out significant operations from the airport, including daily transcontinental flights. All of the major U.S. air carriers offer flights from Boston to all or the majority of their primary and secondary hubs.
History
Origins
Logan Airport opened on September 8, 1923, and at that time it was mainly used by the Massachusetts Air National Guard and the United States Army Air Corps. At the time, it was referred to as "Boston Air Port" at Jeffries Point. The first scheduled commercial passenger flights to start at the new airfield were on Colonial Air Transport between Boston and New York City, starting in 1927. On January 1, 1936, the airport's weather station became the official point for Boston's weather observations and records by the National Weather Service.
Early postwar development
During the 1940s and 1950s, due to the rise in demand for air travel, the airport added 1,800 acres (2.8 sq mi; 7.3 km2; 730 ha) of landfill in Boston Harbor, taken from the former Governors, Noddle's and Apple Islands. During this time, the airport expanded the terminals, adding a central terminal in 1949, which was replaced by Terminals B and C in 1974 and 1967, respectively. In 1943, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts renamed the airport after Maj. Gen. Edward Lawrence Logan, a Spanish–American War officer from South Boston, a statue of whom by sculptor Joseph Coletti was unveiled and dedicated on May 20, 1956. In 1952, Logan Airport became the first in the United States with an indirect rapid transit connection, with the opening of the Airport station on the Blue Line.
Boston became a transatlantic gateway after World War II. In the late 1940s, American Overseas Airlines began operating a weekly Boston-Shannon-London service, shortly after, Pan Am began operating nonstop service to Shannon Airport in Ireland and Santa Maria Airport in the Azores, continuing to London and Lisbon, respectively. By the early 1950s, BOAC had started nonstop Stratocruiser service to Glasgow and Prestwick in Scotland, and Air France began operating a multi-stop Constellation service linking Boston to Orly Airport in Paris. BOAC thereafter began service on the new De Havilland Comet, the first commercial jetliner in the world, on direct flights to Boston from London Heathrow. In April 1957, the Official Airline Guide showed weekday departures with the list as follows: 49 American, 31 Eastern, 25 Northeast Airlines, 8 United Airlines, 7 TWA domestic, 6 National Airlines, 6 Mohawk Airlines, 2 Trans-Canada Air Lines and one Provincetown-Boston Airlines. In addition TWA had nine departures a week to or from the Atlantic, Pan Am had 18, Air France 8, BOAC 4 and Alitalia 4. Aer Lingus launched nonstop Constellation service to Shannon in 1958.
The airport was renamed General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport by an act of the state legislature on April 29, 1954, reflecting the growing international market.
Introduction of the jumbo jet and early international expansion
The jumbo jet era began at Logan in the summer of 1970, when Pan Am started daily Boeing 747 service to London Heathrow. Until 2020, the Boeing 747-400 was scheduled on flights to Boston by British Airways. Lufthansa operated Boeing 747s, including the latest-model Boeing 747-8, on its daily nonstop flights to Frankfurt.
Terminal E was the second-largest international arrivals facility in the United States when it opened in 1974. Between 1974 and 2015, the number of international travelers at Logan tripled. International long-haul travel has been one of the fastest growing market sectors at the airport. Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) undertook the "Logan Modernization Project" from 1994 to 2006: a new parking garage, a new hotel, moving walkways, terminal expansions and improvements, and two-tiered roadways to separate arrival and departure traffic.
Massport's relationship with nearby communities has been strained since the mid-1960s, when the agency took control of a parcel of residential land and popular fishing area near the northwest side of the airfield. This land included Frederick Law Olmsted's 46-acre (19 ha) Wood Island Park, a valued recreational area for a neighborhood with "fewer park and recreation facilities than other neighborhoods in the city." After decades of litigation, the forfeiture was undertaken to extend Runway 15R/33L, which later became Logan's longest runway via artificial land. Outside of the park on Neptune Road, residents of the neighborhood, formerly, with its convenient park access, the "most prestigious street in East Boston," were bought out of their homes and forced to relocate. Public opposition came to a head when residents laid down in the streets to block bulldozers and supply trucks from reaching the construction zone.
International growth and runway additions
Surrounding the year 2000 the Board of Massport placed an emphasis on Logan modernization under the conceptual term "Logan 2000." A plan was devised including an idea for a Monorail or people mover to connect all terminals (post-security) as a means of cutting down on all the buses which needed to visit each terminal to make pick-ups or drop-offs. The plan was abandoned at the time due to cost of the system. However it has been raised again.
Runway 14/32, Logan's first major runway addition in more than forty years, opened on November 23, 2006. It was proposed in 1973, but was delayed in the courts. According to Massport records, the first aircraft to use the new airstrip was a Continental Express ERJ-145 regional jet landing on Runway 32, on the morning of December 2, 2006.
In April 2007, the FAA approved construction of a center field taxiway long-sought by Massport. The 9,300-foot (2,830 m) taxiway is between, and parallel to, Runways 4R/22L and 4L/22R. News of the project angered neighboring residents. In 2009, the taxiway opened ahead of schedule and under budget. To ensure the taxiway is not mistaken for a runway, "TAXI" is written in large yellow letters at each end.
A scene from the 2006 film The Departed was filmed at Logan, inside the connector bridge between Terminal E and the Central Parking Garage. Terminal C and several United Airlines and Northwest Airlines aircraft can be seen in the background. Parts of the Delta Air Lines 2007 "Anthem" commercial were filmed in Terminal A as well as the connector bridge between Terminal A and Central Parking.
In October 2009, US Airways announced it would close its Boston crew base in May 2010. The airline cited an "operations realignment" as the reason. Over 400 employees were transferred or terminated.
After starting service to Logan in 2004, JetBlue was a major operator at Logan Airport by 2008 and its largest carrier by 2011, with flights to cities throughout North America and the Caribbean. The airline grew to operate almost every gate in Terminal C and remains Logan's largest carrier as of 2023.
The Airbus A380 first landed at Logan International Airport for compatibility checks on February 8, 2010. On March 26, 2017, British Airways began flying the A380 to Logan, operating the aircraft three times per week. British Airways announced in October 2018, that A380 service to Boston would expand to daily frequency during the summer 2019 season, beginning on March 31, 2019. Likewise, in January 2019, Emirates announced that it would be deploying the A380 on its daily flight between Logan and Dubai during the June–September 2019 summer season, as high peak seasonal services replacing the B777-300ER on that route. Lufthansa deployed the A380 to Boston in 2023, on its route to Munich.
By 2024, Logan airport had grown to serve over 9 million international passengers.
Facilities
Logan International Airport has four lettered passenger terminals, A, B, C, and E, and 107 gate positions in total. With the exception of flights from destinations with U.S. Customs and Border Protection preclearance, inbound international flights arrive at Terminal E for customs screening since the other terminals do not have customs screening facilities. All terminals are connected by pre-security shuttle buses and by the SL1 branch of the MBTA Silver Line BRT, and Terminals A, B, and E via pre-security moving walkways. Moving walkways also connect the terminals to a central parking garage designed for consolidated service between all four terminals and the garage itself. Post-security connection between Terminals B, C, and E is available.
Terminal A
Terminal A, which replaced a 1970s-era building once occupied by the now-defunct Eastern Air Lines (and later by its successor, Continental Airlines, until closing for demolition in 2002), opened to passengers on March 16, 2005. It was designed by Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum. The terminal is almost solely used by Delta Air Lines and is divided into a 11-gate main terminal and a 10-gate satellite terminal, which are connected via an underground pedestrian tunnel under the ramp. Terminal A features a Delta Sky Club on the third floor of the satellite building, and a second Sky Club at the site of the former Continental Airlines Presidents Club in the main terminal building.
The building is the first airport terminal in the United States to be LEED certified for environmentally friendly design by the U.S. Green Building Council. Among the building's features are heat-reflecting roof and windows, low-flow faucets and waterless urinals, self-dimming lights and stormwater filtration.
The current Terminal A was developed under a special facility lease between the Massachusetts Port Authority and Delta. On September 14, 2005, Delta filed for bankruptcy and consequently had to reduce the number of gates it leased. In December 2018, Delta announced an expansion of routes to take effect in 2019, which resulted in the airline regaining all of Terminal A (other than one gate subleased to WestJet, itself a codeshare airline with Delta). As a result, Delta declared Logan to be one of their hubs. On May 16, 2024, Massport voted to construct the Terminal A to B connector, the final link of their goal to connect all the terminals Post-Security.
Terminal B
Terminal B, designed by John Carl Warnecke & Associates and Desmond & Lord, Inc., first opened in 1974. Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American, Boutique Air, Southwest, and United currently operate out of the terminal which has 41 gates. American and United both operate lounges in the terminal (those being the Admirals Club and United Club, respectively) for their customers.
Pier B was completed for US Airways in 1974 and Pier A for American in 1975. The terminal remained largely unchanged until US Airways expanded its operations at Logan in 1979, and improvements designed by HNTB were constructed in 1980. From 1980 until 2000, numerous small projects including passenger seating area improvements, concessions expansions and passenger lounges were completed at both piers. American's facilities were renovated in 1995 and redesigned by Gresham, Smith & Partners, and US Airways' facilities were renovated in 1998 and 2000, and redesigned by URS Corporation in collaboration with James F. Young, with Turner Construction serving as the construction manager.
Until 2014, Terminal B was split into north and south buildings, with a parking garage between the two buildings. Between 2012 and April 2014, Terminal B underwent a $160 million renovation. It created a post-security connection between Terminal B North and Terminal B South. The renovation also included 24 new ticket counter spots, eight new departure lounges, new concession space, and a new baggage carousel.
Terminal C
Terminal C opened in 1967 and was designed by Perry, Shaw, Hepburn and Dean. It underwent renovations in 1987, 2002, and 2005. The terminal, which has 27 gates, serves Aer Lingus, Cape Air, JetBlue as their operating base, with TAP Air Portugal only having departures take place out of the terminal. The airport's USO Lounge is located in the baggage claim area of Terminal C on the lower level. It offers most typical amenities as other markets as major as Greater Boston. Military ID is required for entry.