Boston’s Logan Airport sees lingering lull in business travel

Air traffic is picking back up, but Boston Logan International Airport remains at only about 80% of its prepandemic volume, and business travel is especially slow to return, said the chief of the Massachusetts Port Authority. 

Normally, Logan’s traffic is about 60% leisure and 40% business, Massport Chief Executive Officer Lisa Wieland told Bloomberg Radio. These days, it’s about 80% leisure and 20% business, she said.

“We’re keeping a close eye on that, because it does have pretty significant impacts for us over the long term,” she said. “There are certain segments of business travel that will come back sooner than others. And then there are other segments that we’ll take a wait-and-see approach about.” 

In general, however, airlines are “bullish” about summer bookings and are launching or restarting several Boston routes, including to Athens, Tel Aviv, Rome, Paris and Toronto, Wieland said.

Also coming this spring: direct cargo shipping service from Southeast Asia into the Port of Boston, via the ZIM shipping line.

With trade between New England and Vietnam on the rise, local importers had long asked for direct service, Wieland said. They “have been thinking for a while about diversification of their supply-chain strategy” beyond their heavy reliance on China.

The port’s Conley Container Terminal is nearly done with $850 million in improvements that will allow bigger container ships to use it. Wieland estimated that the port’s share of New England’s shipping trade could grow from about 40% to well over half.