“The whole market out of Logan has really become low cost,’’ said Edward Freni, the airport’s director of aviation.
Even as airlines have been raising fares around the nation to recover from the recession, in the past year Boston travelers have largely been shielded because of the intensifying competition at Logan.
The discount carrier JetBlue Airways, which has increased its presence out of Boston by 37 percent this year, is Logan’s biggest airline, in terms of passengers and flights. Southwest Airlines, the Dallas-based low-cost king, has increased its capacity by 153 percent in Boston since it began service at Logan in late summer 2009, sparking fare wars with JetBlue and AirTran Airways.
“JetBlue offers low fares and a great product at all our airports, and yes, this puts pressure on the other airlines,’’ said Dave Clark, its director of route planning. “More flights and more low fares are coming to Boston, as JetBlue’s rapid growth at Logan will continue for many years.’’
Airlines are drawn to Boston, especially now that Big Dig traffic snarls are gone, because of the mix of leisure and business travelers in the area as well as the high number of heavily traveled routes, said Southwest’s spokesman, Paul Flaningan.
“I think there’s just a lot of opportunity for carriers to make their mark,’’ he said.
And all this interest from low-fare airlines has been good for Boston passengers looking for good deals on one-way fares, such as a $7 sale to Washington, D.C., on JetBlue, a $119 sale fare to Los Angeles on Virgin America, and a regular $39 fare to Baltimore on Southwest, AirTran, and JetBlue.
The growth of low-cost carriers has even spurred so-called legacy airlines to drop their fares. Since Southwest entered the Boston-Philadelphia market in June, for instance, US Airways, previously the sole carrier on the route, has lowered its $1,100 round-trip fare to match Southwest’s $160 ticket.
A US Airways spokesman declined to comment on how low-cost carriers have affected fares at Logan.
