Boston Airport Guide: Logan’s Harbourside Runways
Boston Airport, better known as Logan, handles around 43 million passengers on a tight harbour site. Runways, terminals, routes, transport and spotting.
By The Aviation Hub
6 min read
Updated October 20, 2026 
Logan International Airport occupies a peninsula of reclaimed land in East Boston, barely 3 miles (5 km) from the downtown skyscrapers across the harbour. Boston Airport is the largest in New England and the main transatlantic gateway for the northeastern United States outside New York. It handled around 43 million passengers in 2025, with Delta and JetBlue fighting for the top spot.
Boston Airport at a Glance
The IATA code is BOS and the ICAO code is KBOS. The field sits just 6 metres (20 feet) above sea level on fill that was once tidal flats and islands, and part of it lies in the town of Winthrop. Four passenger terminals lettered A, B, C and E hold 107 gates. The Massachusetts Port Authority, known as Massport, owns and operates the airport along with the port of Boston.
Delta runs a secondary transatlantic hub here and held about 27 per cent of passengers in the latest year, with JetBlue, which uses Boston Airport as an operating base, close behind on 25 per cent and American third. Cape Air bases its Cessna 402 fleet here for island hopping to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. Live flight and parking information is on the airport’s official website.
How Boston’s Airport Came to Be
Boston Air Port opened on 8 September 1923 on Jeffries Point, used at first by the Massachusetts Air National Guard and the Army Air Corps. Colonial Air Transport flew the first scheduled commercial service to New York in 1927. Through the 1930s and 1940s the state filled in the harbour flats to extend the runways.
In 1943 the Commonwealth named the field after Major General Edward Lawrence Logan, a South Boston officer who had served in the Spanish American War. A 1954 act fixed the full title of General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport. Massport took over in 1959 and built the modern terminal complex through the 1960s and 1970s.
The airport’s history carries two heavy chapters. Delta Flight 723, a Douglas DC-9, crashed on approach in fog on 31 July 1973 and killed 89 people. On 11 September 2001, American Flight 11 and United Flight 175 departed from gates B32 and C19 before being hijacked, and flags now fly over both gates.
Runways at Boston Airport
The runway layout is cramped and complicated. Runway 15R/33L is the longest at 3,073 metres (10,083 feet), followed by Runway 04R/22L at 3,050 metres (10,006 feet) and Runway 04L/22R at 2,397 metres (7,864 feet). Runway 09/27 measures 2,134 metres (7,001 feet) and Runway 14/32 just 1,524 metres (5,000 feet). All are asphalt and 46 metres wide, except 14/32 at 30 metres. A sixth strip, 15L/33R, is so short that take offs are banned and it sees almost no use.
The intersecting layout means controllers switch configurations constantly with the wind. Runway 09/27 is the busiest, while the long 15R/33L and 04R/22L suit heavy long haul departures. Runway 14/32, opened in 2006 after decades of opposition from Winthrop residents, is one directional: aircraft land on 32 and take off on 14, keeping jets over the water rather than the town.
Approaches to 04R bring aircraft low over Boston Harbor past the Seaport, one of the finest arrivals in American aviation. Sea fog and winter nor’easters cause the worst disruption.
Terminals and Airlines
Terminal A is almost entirely Delta, with 21 gates split between a main building and a satellite linked by an underground walkway. Terminal B is the largest with 41 gates and serves American, United, Southwest, Alaska and Air Canada. A connector between B and C opened in 2023, and Massport voted in 2024 to link A and B as well.
Terminal C is JetBlue territory, with 27 gates and the airline’s largest operation outside New York. Aer Lingus and Cape Air also use it, and TAP Air Portugal departs from it. Terminal E is the international terminal with 18 gates and handles most foreign carriers, including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, Air France, KLM, Iberia, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines and El Al. A USD 680 million expansion completed in August 2023.
All three big alliances are present, with Delta and its SkyTeam partners strongest, oneworld through American, British Airways and Iberia, and Star Alliance through United, Lufthansa and Air Canada. JetBlue’s Boston Airport base gives the field an unusually competitive transatlantic market.
Routes and Destinations
Domestically, Chicago O’Hare, Atlanta and Washington National led the table at Boston Airport in the year to May 2026, with Orlando and San Francisco close behind. JetBlue dominates the Florida leisure routes and Delta the hub feeds.
London Heathrow is by far the busiest international route, with around 1.08 million passengers a year spread across British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Delta, American and JetBlue. Paris Charles de Gaulle and Dublin follow, and the summer brings a crowd of European services from Lisbon to Reykjavik. Long haul reaches Doha, Dubai, Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Tokyo and Hong Kong, with the Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong, at roughly 7,950 miles (12,800 km), the longest from the airport.
Getting to and from Boston Airport
The Silver Line SL1 bus rapid transit route is the cheapest sensible option. It stops at every terminal and runs through the Ted Williams Tunnel to South Station in about 20 to 30 minutes, and the ride from the airport is free. The Blue Line subway stops at Airport station outside the terminals, with free shuttle buses to each building, and reaches downtown in about 15 minutes for a fare of a few dollars.
Logan Express coaches run from park and ride sites in Back Bay, Braintree, Framingham, Danvers and Woburn. By road, Interstate 90 reaches the terminals through the Ted Williams Tunnel and Interstate 93 via the Sumner and Callahan tunnels.
Taxis and ride share cost about USD 25 to 40 (roughly £19 to £30) to downtown and take 15 to 40 minutes depending on tunnel traffic. Parking garages sit in front of the central terminals but fill at peak times.
Spotting and Photography
Boston Airport rewards spotters prepared to move around with the wind. Sargent Street and Saratoga Street in Winthrop sit under the 22L approach, ideal for arrivals in a southwesterly, and Castle Island in South Boston covers 04R arrivals across the harbour. Constitution Beach in Orient Heights covers departures from 22R and 04L. The public pier on Deer Island in Winthrop catches 33L arrivals with downtown Boston behind.
Light favours the Winthrop approach spots in the morning and Constitution Beach in the afternoon. Keep to public parks and pavements, avoid parking on residential streets in Winthrop and expect the occasional check from Massport police, who are generally relaxed with cooperative spotters.
What Comes Next
Land is the limit. The runways cannot grow and Winthrop and East Boston residents guard every noise contour. Massport has therefore focused on terminals, with the Terminal E expansion, the B to C connector and the planned A to B link gradually joining the buildings into one.
Massport also pushes hard to shift passengers from cars to transit, with remote check in at Framingham from June 2026 the latest step. Boston Airport will stay a busy, constrained and distinctive field whose growth depends on larger aircraft and smarter ground access rather than concrete. See how it compares on our Airports of the World map.
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