A first-in-the-nation remote terminal for Logan Airport opened Monday in Framingham, letting eligible travelers clear TSA screening miles from the airport before boarding a bus straight to their gate at Boston Logan.
The facility, at 19 Flutie Pass, is separate from the nearby Logan Express Framingham location and is designed to move security away from the airport itself. Passengers drop off bags, get a boarding pass, go through a full TSA screening checkpoint lane and wait in a holding room before boarding a secure Logan Express bus for the 23-mile trip to Logan, where the bus takes them past airport security and directly to their terminal.
Gov. Maura Healey called the service a game-changer for many travelers. The pitch is simple: skip the congestion at Logan, check bags in Framingham and get a direct ride to the airport after screening. The remote terminal also offers TSA PreCheck, and children under 18 may ride free with a ticketed family member.
For now, though, the service is narrow. Only JetBlue and Delta passengers with flights between 5:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. can use it, so most Logan travelers still have to go through security at the airport. That limit is the clearest sign that the remote terminal is being rolled out as a test of a new model, not yet as a replacement for the old one.
The logistics are built around hourly buses that run from 4 a.m. to 1 p.m. and hold 55 passengers each. Tickets can be bought online at LoganRemote.com up to 90 days before a flight or as late as 90 minutes before departure, and the system recommends a bus time based on flight details, aiming for arrival at Logan at least 45 minutes before takeoff. Parking is also available at the remote site, with about 400 spaces for $7 a day, compared with $46 a day in a Logan garage.
One traveler, Noah, said he woke up about 45 minutes earlier, took a 10-minute drive to the terminal and walked right in to check his bags. He called it the way to get into Logan now, adding that there was no reason to deal with traffic and unpredictability. The unanswered question is how quickly, if at all, the airport will widen access beyond JetBlue and Delta passengers, but Monday’s opening shows the first version of the idea is already live.
