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Geraghty referred to both setbacks in her conversation with publicist Geri Denterlein, on stage at the chamber meeting.
“We continue to grow Boston again and again, … reestablishing our presence here,” Geraghty said. “Our transactions that we did not pass muster with the Department of Justice, they set us back a bit in terms of our growth plans for Boston. But you know, we’re very, very focused on returning to our path, pre-COVID, with Boston.”
JetBlue’s daily departures out of Logan are close to where they were in 2019, per numbers provided by the company. That year, JetBlue had an average of 150 daily departures out of Boston, and peaked at just over 170. This month, JetBlue is averaging 146.
But the passenger count, as provided by the Massachusetts Port Authority, has not recovered as quickly. While Logan’s overall passenger traffic recently passed pre-pandemic levels, JetBlue’s is still lagging. In January, JetBlue’s passenger count in Boston cleared 777,000, up from 721,000 a year earlier, but a far cry from the 903,000 reported in January 2020. Local passenger numbers at Delta, JetBlue’s biggest rival at Logan, by comparison rose from 603,000 in January 2020 to 703,000 in January 2024, and more than 736,000 in January of this year.
And when it come to the question of who is Logan’s busiest carrier, JetBlue has a bigger market share in the winter, mainly because of its seasonal Caribbean flights, but Delta takes the lead in the summer months, per a Massport spokesperson, and generally has the edge year-round now.
Geraghty pointed to strong growth ahead in Boston, including a 15 percent increase year-over-year in seats sold for the April-June quarter. She said she knows the airline needs to improve its on-time performance. Geraghty and Denterlein also discussed a few of JetBlue’s new Logan routes. JetBlue in January announced it will have 77 nonstop destinations from Boston, more than Delta (or any other airline), once a bevy of summer seasonal routes are included.
New European destinations include Madrid and Edinburgh (launching in May), and flights will start to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in June. JetBlue is also working on a new 11,000-square-foot lounge at Terminal C.
To bolster her local cred, Geraghty also referred to her top lieutenant, JetBlue president Marty St. George, a South Boston resident. She recruited St. George back to JetBlue around the time she was promoted to the CEO’s role in early 2024.
“My president, sometimes we need an interpreter for him,” she said, “he’s so Boston.”
This is an installment of our weekly Bold Types column about the movers and shakers on Boston’s business scene.
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.
This time, the people marched in resistance to the harsh treatment of immigrants by the Trump administration.
“We descend from Immigrants and Revolutionaries,” read a battle cry beamed onto the side of the brick meeting house Tuesday.
“The society that stops seeing the people at the grocery line or the people that ride the bus with us, as human beings with beating hearts, then it’s not far off before our society devolves into no society at all,” Gilberto Calderin, director of advocacy at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition said to the crowd of hundreds.
The protest was organized by activist groups Boston Indivisible and Mass 50501, and began at the Irish Famine Memorial Plaza, just steps from the meeting house.
The lively crowd held up signs, waved American flags, and chanted during the march along Milk Street and Congress Street to the harbor.
Janet England of Brighton held a sign that read, “Democracy Needs Courage.”
The protesters, she said are “true patriots because we want freedom and democracy.”
“Although protest is a long game, we can’t give up. If you think about women’s suffrage, gay rights, the civil rights movement, it took years, but we just can’t give up,” she said.
Gloria Krusemeyer, from Alrington, used a walker to join the march.
“I’m irritated that I haven’t done more, and I’m just lucky that I can walk fast enough to be doing this,” she said.
Rick Mueller, from Cambridge, was dressed as Uncle Sam and held a large sign that read, “Liberty and Justice For All.”
“We’re fighting for America, so I’m gonna be America,” he said of his costume.
He handed small American flags out to protesters who waved them enthusiastically.
Ice dumping duties was limited to volunteers and select people.
Among them was Sarah, a mother who brought her 4-year-old daughter, Fiona.
Sarah declined to share her last name for her daughter’s safety.
After throwing ice into the harbor, Fiona shyly said that she wanted to come to the protest to “help families stay together.”
Through tears, Sarah said her decision to bring along Fiona came from wanting to teach her daughter to care about people from all walks of life.
“Kindness and compassion are things we learn in kindergarten and she will be in kindergarten so it’s really important for her to be kind and compassionate,” Sarah said, kissing her daughter’s check.
Likewise, Sara Sievers, from Cambridge, brought her parents, sister, her nephews and niece to dump ice.
“I think this is one of the most brutal regimes we’ve had in this country, and I want my niece and nephew to remember that it’s important to protest, and that we in Boston are part of a proud tradition of dumping things into the harbor with which we disagree,” Sievers said.
The family wore costumes of historical figures including Abigail Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and King Charles.
As the protest came to a close, Martha Laposata, spokesperson for Boston Indivisible said she wanted protestors to walk away knowing their voices matter.
“We cannot stand down,” Laposata said. “When people rise up against an authoritarian government, if they stay consistent and they keep growing, ultimately an authoritarian government will stand down.”
Camille Bugayong can be reached at camille.bugayong@globe.com.
Crime
An MIT professor was shot and killed in Brookline on Monday night.
Brookline police responded a report of a man shot in his home on Gibbs Street, according to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office.
Nuno F.G. Loureiro, 47, was transported to a local hospital and was pronounced dead on Tuesday morning, the DA says.
Loureiro was the director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center and a professor of nuclear science and engineering and physics. Originally from Portugal, the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs announced his death in a regulatory hearing before the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Portuguese Communities on Tuesday, according to CNN.
“Sadly, I can confirm that Professor Nuno Loureiro, who died early this morning, was a current MIT faculty member in the departments of Nuclear Science & Engineering and Physics, as well as the Director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center. Our deepest sympathies are with his family, students, colleagues, and all those who are grieving,” an MIT spokesperson wrote in a statement.
In January, Loureiro was honored as one of nearly 400 scientists and engineers with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from former president Joe Biden.
The investigation into the homicide remains ongoing. No further information was released.
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A man was hospitalized after being shot Monday night in Brookline, Massachusetts.
The shooting happened on Gibbs Street. There was a large police presence at the scene.
The victim was brought to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. His condition was not known.
Police said the victim was shot three times and grazed by another round.
Authorities did not say if any arrests had been made.
No further information was immediately available.
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