In the late 2000s, Boston Logan International Airport safely hosted about 30 million passengers and over 400,000 flights and moved some 750 million pounds of cargo annually. Much of the credit for Logan’s efficiency goes to a company called East Coast Airport Services (ECAS).
Many of ECAS’ services – aircraft and cargo ground handling, warehousing, sale, leasing and maintenance of airline ground support equipment – involve gear historically powered by Detroit Diesel 2-Cycle engines and supported by New England Detroit Diesel Allison (Wakefield, MA). NEDDA’s Tony Gemba says ECAS Maintenance Manager Jack Giglio has overseen as much as 57 pieces of ground support equipment, including pushback tractors, loaders, ground power units and air starters powered by Series 92® and other MTU Detroit Diesel engines.
Operating and maintaining all that equipment under optimum conditions in today’s hyper-competitive airline industry would be challenge enough for any ground support company, and even more so for one that sometimes keeps planes flying when blizzards have shut down other East Coast airports. Like a sturdy, uncomplaining New Englander, ECAS quietly and competently goes about its business at Logan.