Five years since COVID hit, CT’s Bradley International Airport aims for ‘even more growth’
WINDSOR LOCKS — The roar of planes is not the only noise at
Connecticut’s flagship airport. These days, the clang of construction rings out
too. Watch More
Significant projects to enhance baggage screening and
improve the flow of passengers through the terminal are underway because
Bradley International Airport needs to keep up with rebounding activity. Five
years after COVID-19 spread to Connecticut, the airport in Windsor
Locks is about as busy as it was right before the pandemic. And as new
routes to destinations continue to launch, airport officials expect
passenger traffic to keep rising.
“The industry obviously took a large hit after COVID.
But getting back to where we were in 2019, in these last few months, has been
great,” said Michael Shea, who started last month as the new executive
director of the Connecticut Airport Authority which owns and operates
Bradley during a recent tour of the airport. "And going forward, we think
there’s even more growth that will happen.”
Post-pandemic rebound
The pandemic hit the aviation industry hard, and Bradley did
not escape the disruption. In 2020, its annual passenger traffic plummeted 65%
to 2.4 million.
But the airport’s passenger numbers have climbed back
steadily in the past few years. About 6.7 million passengers passed through the
airport in 2024 — up 6.5% year-over-year and down only 1% from 2019.
Bradley’s recovery has been powered by the launch of a
number of new routes in the past few years. In 2022, the then-new, low-fare
carrier Breeze Airways announced that the airport would become
one of its hubs and that it planned to create more than 200 jobs in
the state.
Today, Breeze operates about 20 routes out of Bradley,
ranking No. 1 among carriers serving the airport. Those destinations include
Columbus, Ohio; Las Vegas; Phoenix; Pittsburgh; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina;
as well as several cities in Florida, including Jacksonville.
“Having Breeze here allowed us to recover a lot of that
traffic faster than we would have otherwise,” Kevin Dillon, former
executive director of CAA said in 2023.
Last year, another low-fare carrier, Avelo
Airlines, expanded to Bradley. Connecticut was familiar territory for Avelo
because it has a hub at Tweed
New Haven Airport, where it has been running flights since
2021.
Avelo's launch last November at Bradley included flights to
Charlotte/Concord, North Carolina; Daytona Beach, Florida; Houston;
Orlando/Lakeland, Florida; and Wilmington, North Carolina. The carrier has
since decided to end all of those routes, except the service to Daytona Beach.
But some aviation experts said that it is inevitable that some destinations
will not work out, particularly those to smaller cities.
“Some people got a nice flight. If it didn’t work, that’s
fine. But nobody’s 'out,'” said Michael Boyd, co-founder and president of the
Colorado-based aviation consulting and forecasting firm Boyd Group
International and a former station manager at Bradley for Braniff
International.
Bradley’s international service is also
expanding. Avelo started
flights last month to Montego Bay, Jamaica and Cancún, Mexico, and it began
flights last month to Punta
Cana in the Dominican Republic. Next month, BermudAir will launch
flights between Bradley and Bermuda.
Among potential routes, CAA officials are interested
in establishing
direct service to London. Bradley has one nonstop destination in Europe:
Aer Lingus' route to Dublin, which resumed
in March 2023, after a three-year break due to the pandemic.
“London is a very important market,” Shea said. “It’s our
largest unserved transatlantic market right now.”
As activity continues to increase at Bradley, a number of
state legislators endorsed the appointment of Shea as the new executive
director of the CAA, a quasi-public agency established in 2011. Shea has
succeeded Dillon, who retired after serving as the CAA’s executive
director since its launch. In addition to Bradley, CAA owns and operates five
general aviation airports: Danielson, Groton-New London, Hartford-Brainard,
Waterbury-Oxford and Windham.
Shea previously served as the CAA’s deputy executive
director and started with the organization in 2013 as its director of finance
and chief financial officer.
“His transition from CFO into capital projects,
business development and other management roles over those years made him the
best choice after Kevin Dillon’s retirement,” said state Rep. Tami Zawistowski,
a Republican whose district includes part of Windsor Locks. “Mike is extremely
capable. He knows Bradley very well and is ready to lead Bradley and the
general aviation airports under CAA’s purview well into the future.”
'Great relationship' with FAA
While Bradley has benefited from the post-pandemic
resurgence of air travel across the U.S., aviation safety has come under
renewed scrutiny in the wake of the Jan.
29 collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter at
Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., that killed all 67 people on board
both aircraft.
CAA officials said they have confidence in Bradley’s air
traffic control, which is managed by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Bradley is authorized for 20 air traffic controllers, but
it has 15, according to FAA data shared last month by Sen. Richard
Blumenthal, D-Conn. Airports across the U.S. are typically operating with about
75% of their authorized head counts for air traffic control.
“We have a great relationship with the local FAA
staff,” Shea said. “If they want to hire more controllers, we would be
supportive of that. But we aren’t aware of any issues here at Bradley.”
Shea added that, “we are trying to grow and have been
successful in doing so. But we are a much less congested airport than you would
see out of Washington, D.C., New York, Atlanta, etc.”
Major infrastructure upgrades
To accommodate the growing passenger volume, several
significant infrastructure improvements are underway at Bradley.
An 80,000-square-foot building under construction next to
the airport’s Sheraton hotel will house explosive-detection machines on its
lower level and three gates on its upper floor. The new terminal space is
scheduled to open by the end of this summer, while the baggage-screening
facility is expected to be completed in early 2026.
The new baggage hub will be connected by a mile-long
conveyor belt to the ticket counters in Bradley’s terminal lobby. As a result,
passengers will no longer to need to carry their checked bags over to the
explosive-detection machines in the terminal lobby. The eventual removal of the
current screening machines will create space for more ticket counters and
alleviate lines.
Also under construction are corridors at both ends of
Bradley’s terminal that will process arriving passengers and connect them to
baggage claim on the terminal’s lower level. They are scheduled to open in
phases between the late spring and late summer.
The corridors will replace the single exit lane in Bradley’s
main terminal, next to the airport’s primary TSA security checkpoint. The
eventual closing of the current exit will create more space for the
checkpoint.
“They’re very important projects,” Shea said. “They’re all
about customer convenience and customer service.”
The projects' estimated cost totals approximately $243
million. CAA has secured about $99 million in federal funding. The remaining
$144 million will come from passenger-facility charges, which are included in
the prices of airline tickets, and airport revenues, which comprise landing and
terminal-use fees, as well as revenues from terminal concessions, parking and
terminal advertising.
“I think that this is critical in terms of making sure we’re
appropriately modernizing,” said state Sen. Christine Cohen, D-Guilford,
co-chairwoman of the state legislature’s Transportation Committee. “It enhances
us in being a competitive transportation hub in the region.”
Among infrastructure projects completed at the airport in
the past few years, a ground
transportation center opened in 2022. The hub includes 830 parking spots
and a rental-car center.
In the years ahead, new initiatives could include the
construction of a rail link between Bradley and a stop on the
Hartford-Springfield, Massachusetts rail line. CAA officials indicated
they want to first see the amount of demand for bus service between the airport
and the new Windsor
Locks train station, which is scheduled to open by the end of this year.
Today, there are buses that run between Bradley and the current Windsor Locks
station; the Windsor train station; and downtown Hartford, including a stop at
Union Station.
“We did work with the local towns to preserve a corridor …
so that you have a lane, if you will, to build a rail connection,” Shea said.
“But for right now, it’s monitoring the rehabilitation of the Windsor Locks
train station, and then we would start engaging on high-frequency bus
service.”
Norwich Public Utilities to apply for $3.75M state grant to investigate water lines
Daniel Drainville
Norwich — Following City Council approval Monday night,
Norwich Public Utilities will apply for an additional $3.75 million from the
state to continue inspecting its water lines for lead.
That includes inspections from the curb to customers'
meters, which NPU technically doesn't own.
NPU Communications and Public Affairs Manager Chris Riley
said the money will allow NPU to continue a "deeper investigation" of
the water lines.
Seventy percent of the $3.75 million would be paid to NPU as
a grant, while it would receive the other 30% in the form of a 20-year loan,
with 2% interest.
The low-interest loan would be paid back through water rates
charged to customers, Riley said, adding the rates will not increase due to the
loan.
NPU is among drinking water systems across the country that
are being required by the EPA to identify and replace lead lines by 2037. Under
the mandate, every public drinking supply needed to provide an inventory of
their service lines, categorized as lead, non-lead, galvanized pipe, or unknown
material by last October.
"We had a lot of unknowns in October," Alisa
Morrison, NPU's lead engineer for the project, said. "What we're doing now
is we're trying to figure out what those unknowns are."
Morrison said NPU is also required to test a certain
percentage of the lines it has already declared as having no lead, to verify
that they indeed are lead free.
Riley said NPU began conducting basement investigations of
about 500 water lines in 2023, estimating it would find about 1,000 lead lines
and then have to start replacing them. But the utility found fewer than 10 lead
lines, none of which exceeded the EPA's acceptable standard for lead. The
customers with lead lines were offered water filters.
"We're just going to keep doing these basement
investigations," Morrison said.
Investigations, she said, involve swabbing the part of the
pipe that goes from the customer's house to the meter. If the test comes back
red, it's lead.
The initial $2 million was also used to conduct public
outreach meetings and water testing, Morrison said. It was also used to make an
interactive map on NPU's website that allows customers to search their house
and see if the pipes are lead, not lead or unknown.
The funds were also used to hire a consultant to make a
predictive model that's helping NPU focus their inspections in areas with the
highest likelihood of lead pipes.
As part of the initial $2 million, NPU developed
construction specifications for replacing lead lines if more are found,
Morrison said.
Riley said NPU will use the $3.75 million to perform another
150 basement inspections in 2025, dig 400 test pits and to pay for 100 days of
test pit inspections. In 2026, another 50 basement inspections will be done,
along with 200 test pits and 40 days of oversight.
NPU Wastewater Operations Integrity Manager Larry Sullivan
said if the amount of lead lines remains low, NPU intends to replace the small
amount of lead lines found and cover the cost.
Trump’s new tariffs add pressure to construction pipeline
After months of bracing for tariffs, contractors now find
themselves building through the latest escalation in a trade war.
The Trump administration officially enacted a 25% tariff on
imports from Mexico and Canada Tuesday, along with an additional 10% tariff on
Chinese goods. The tariffs on Mexico and Canada were initially set to take
effect in February but were ultimately
postponed for a month.
The construction industry has been bracing for the impact
for months. That’s why much of the tariff-driven price movement has likely
played out by now, even ahead of the effective date, said Michael Guckes, chief
economist at ConstructConnect.
“The impact of tariffs has already been built into the
prices we are seeing today, thus we shouldn’t expect drastically higher prices
moving forward,” said Guckes. “We are recommending to our clients that they
take a measured and calm response to near-term events.”
Construction input prices jumped 1.4% to kick off the year
in January as contractors rushed to buy materials before tariffs went into
effect, according to an analysis by Associated Builders and Contractors. That
marked the largest
monthly increase in two years.
In other words, just the anticipation of tariffs had already
been driving up prices on key materials, even before Tuesday’s deadline.
Pressure on project budgets
Higher tariffs will further squeeze project budgets by
increasing costs on a range of imports, including raw materials such as iron,
aluminum and cement, as well as finishing products such as tiles and mirrors,
according to ABC.
That uncertainty could lead to project
delays, cancellations and budget overruns, according to a recent report
from Morningstar. Projects already in the planning
phase may require revisions, while those under construction face increased
risks of material shortages and cost escalation.
However, for projects with fixed-price or guaranteed maximum price contracts, contractors may be unable to pass along tariff-related increases from the past several months, leading to potential financial losses. Some firms may attempt to manage the disruption by resequencing construction activities, but that could still cause delays, according to Morningstar.
At the same time, contractors are likely to adjust how they
price future projects. Those in the procurement phase may expand contingency
budgets, incorporate price escalation clauses or avoid strict fixed-price
contracts, according to the report.
That uncertainty could put downward pressure on construction
spending until there is more clarity on domestic trade policies, according to
ABC.
Nevertheless, Guckes cautions against overreacting to
short-term price fluctuations, especially since much of the pricing impact may
have already been felt.
“Brief periods of acute volatility are not good times to
make long-run or brash decisions which might be regretted soon afterwards,”
said Guckes. “When one considers how much steel prices have already moved in
conjunction with this event it is hard to believe that prices will both move
significantly higher from here and stay elevated for a prolonged period of
time.”
102-unit apartment building, 96-unit hotel approved for Norwalk’s Belden Avenue
The corner of Norwalk’s Belden Avenue and Burnell Boulevard
will soon be the home of a 102-unit apartment building and 96-room hotel.
The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission on Feb. 5 approved
a plan by IJ Group LLC, controlled by Norwalk developer Jason Milligan,
according to the city’s principal planner Bryan Baker.
“A zoning permit and building permit still need to be
obtained by the developer,” Baker told the Hartford Business Journal.
A narrow five-story office building currently sits atop an
expansive ground-level retail floor on a 1.43-acre site at 24 Belden Ave.,
which IJ Group owns.
The present structure contains about 45,000 square feet of
office space and another roughly 45,000 square feet of retail space, according
to an application filed with the city.
IJ Group plans to renovate the office and retail spaces and
build a five-story, 71,775-square-foot apartment building on one side of the
present office-retail structure, and a five-story, 61,491-square-foot hotel on
the other side, on the corner of Burnell Boulevard and Belden Avenue.
“I am proposing this development because this amazing
historic area is about to explode,” Milligan told the Hartford Business
Journal.
The building will be close to a theater college, music hall, recording
studio, arts studio, Norwalk Hospital and “many fantastic” restaurants, he
said.
“The area has history and charm and is a wonderful arts and cultural hub,” he
said.
Milligan said he plans to start the project in the summer, pending the permit
approvals, and finish it in 18 months.