By Sam Schotsky, Senior VP, Sales and Marketing, GeoLogisitcs Americas, Inc. To most New England executives, Logan Airport is where you catch a plane. Or send your air freight. Very few shippers realize that decisions made by MASSPORT, the agency responsible for overseeing Logan, can affect the entire economy of the city of Boston; the state of Massachusetts and the general New England region. Logan is not just a place where airplanes land and take off. It is a very powerful economic force in New England. In addition to being a major employer in its own right, decisions made by its staff--which airlines will have "slots" at the airport, what kinds of aircraft will be allowed to arrive and depart, what times of the day or night they can operate, and what space will be allocated to passenger and cargo facilities--often becomes a major factor in whether we have bustling manufacturing facilities throughout New England, or shuttered plants. How can the decisions made by MASSPORT affect the manufacturing outlook for much of New England The answer lies in the distribution revolution. Physical distribution of almost all manufactured products is becoming increasingly a major factor in today's super heated corporate domestic and international competition. The mix of products; telecommunications, computers and computer parts and other hi-tech items manufactured within a 50-mile radius of Logan is particularly responsive to precise, time-sensitive distribution. New England manufacturers want to be assured that Logan, their launching pad to the remainder of the nation and the world, has sufficient space for efficient storage of cargo, flights to the right cities at the right times and always a vital issue--airport management's assurance they remain committed to support cargo operations with intensity and consistency. The MASSPORT commissioners and their paid airport staff are backing cargo operations with plenty of vim and vigor. But they face a huge challenger, the proverbial 800-lb. gorilla going by the moniker of John F. Kennedy Airport. In normal times, airports don't compete with each other, They have enough problems with their own operations. They don't concern themselves with airports 200 or 300 miles away. These are not normal times, however. Airports, just like private companies, are hungering for business and are spending billions of dollars to get it, Airports want more passengers and greater cargo volume moving through their buildings and onto their runways. One would assume that with the current good times, the New York/New Jersey Port Authority would not seek cargo business beyond the Middle Atlantic states--its natural geographic region. That assumption would be incorrect. Port authorities are making vigorous efforts to increase cargo business through JFK and almost all of New England-based commerce and industry are fair game. While MASSPORT is doing a first rate job in promoting cargo activities at the airport, more could be done to keep cargo lifting off the runways next to the Charles River and not parallel to Jamaica Bay. There are problems which must be addressed. Problems involve noise restrictions, (particularly important to shippers and forwarders because many freighters are older and don't conform to the most recent mandated standards), types of aircraft (is cargo space sufficient?) and perhaps even more essential, when do they fly (because cargo generally likes to move at night for next day or second day delivery.) To paraphrase Von Clausewitz' famous saying, air freight is too important to be left to the bureaucrats. Shippers, airlines and forwarders like GeoLoglstics Americas, who are responsible for almost $1 billion in air cargo revenues passing through Logan should have a greater voice in what happens to our freight. As a freight forwarder with almost thirty years experience, here are my suggestions to make Logan an even stronger player in the air cargo business. ' Create a task force composed of airport authorities, airlines, forwarders and shippers to scrutin