All Things Travel: Challenges For Massport CEO

BOSTON (CBS) - On the first day of spring, everybody at Massport and its CEO, Thomas Glynn, was looking forward to the warm weather.

"There were no immediate crises and it was a field test for everyone, first with Super Storm Sandy and then the winter snow storms," said Glynn.

After a national search that lasted over a year, the Massport Board and Governor Deval Patrick agreed on Glynn who had no aviation experience, but plenty of other jobs to recommend him. Those included a stint as MBTA General Manager, Chairman of Partners Health and work in Washington.

We had lunch at the No Name Restaurant that will celebrate its 100th anniversary on Massport's Boston Fish Pier in 2017. While Logan Airport gets most of Massport's attention, the growth of the Seaport District is one of Boston's greatest success stories.

The fact that the MBTA Silver Line passes through this section of the waterfront on its way to the Ted Williams Tunnel and the airport is a big asset to the city.

For over a year, Massport and the MBTA have cooperated on a plan that has offered free transportation inbound from Logan Airport to South Station.

"Massport has a bigger impact on communities than I anticipated, but transportation is transportation," said Glynn.

The Port Authority is responsible for the operations of three airports: Logan, Worcester and Hanscom Field in Bedford. It runs major cargo and cruise facilities in South Boston. Much of the growth of the waterfront on both sides of the harbor is taking place on Massport property.

"People don't realize that about 50 percent of the property that we own is still undeveloped," said Glynn. "One of our challenges is to keep the seafood industry growing as the waterfront continues to grow."

Glynn and his Maritime Division are looking forward to another successful cruise season at the expanded Black Falcon Cruise Terminal handling more than 350,000 passengers starting next month.

Glynn states three major challenges for this year. They include more parking opportunities for Logan Airport, global warming and its impact on Massport and whether a project to dredge Boston Harbor to handle larger container ships will be worth the price.

In three weeks, Logan will have one of its busiest weeks of the year with the spring school vacation week and the Boston Marathon weekend.

Bob Weiss reports on business travel on Mondays at 5:55 a.m. on WBZ NewsRadio 1030.