Passenger Growth, New Additions Continue at Bradley Airport

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It is impossible to predict what impact the coronavirus may ultimately have on passenger travel at Connecticut airports, but the past year, and projections for the years to come, appear quite upbeat at Bradley International Airport, notwithstanding the great unknown.

BDL drew about 7 million passengers in 2019, ahead of the 6.7 million in 2018 by more than 2%.  It marked the seventh straight year of passenger gains at Bradley, Kevin A. Dillon, CEO of the Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA), which oversees Bradley, recently highlighted in published reports

During the year, Bradley added an airline and more nonstop routes, continued its capital improvement plan and saw cargo traffic go up 27% — an increase driven in large part by freight handling via Amazon, which arrives daily with four wide-body flights, MassLive reported.

Next up:  construction of a new ground transportation center, a $210 million project expected to be operational in 2022, which had a ceremonial groundbreaking with state officials last July. It is slated to have rental cars and a bus station as Bradley expands air-to-ground connections with public transit.  That’s set to include more frequent connections between Bradley and the CTrail train service that now links Springfield, Hartford and New Haven, along with towns in between. 

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Just this week, it was announced that the State of Connecticut received a $17.4 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration to construct a new rail station in Windsor Locks, Bradley Airport’s hometown.  The new station is to be about a mile north of the existing Hartford Line station and is part of a larger transit-oriented development project in historic downtown Windsor Locks.

Also this week, the CAA announced plans for new dining and retail options at Bradley.  Starbucks and La Familia Tacos + Tequila, a Latin fusion restaurant and bar, are planned to open this summer, along with Jamba Juice, Auntie Anne’s and Carvel . Hartford Prints, a retailer located on Hartford’s Pratt Street, will open a first-time location at the airport later this month.  Existing Dunkin’, Brooks Brothers and CNBC stores will also be expanded.  In addition, Bradley is also planning to rebuild all the public bathrooms, at an estimated cost of $6 million, along with a new elevator, according to published reports.

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Stressing BDL’s position as a more affordable option for travelers in the region, officials noted that Bradley has 4.4 million people living within a 90-minute drive, and its cost per enplanement is $8 to $9 versus $20 or so at the Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in New York.

In an interview with MassLive, Dillon suggested a range of possible options on the horizon for BDL to build on the momentum of recent years:

  • regular long-distance service from as far away as southern Vermont as a convenience to passengers.

  • a stronger relationship with Yale University, possibly to include dedicated bus service, at least on holidays, and perhaps a regular shuttle during the school year.

  • more transatlantic service; London being the preferred choice

  • new service to several cities in the U.S., with Seattle atop of the list, because of a natural connection to the aerospace industry and its status as a potential a gateway to Asia;  other potential routes reportedly include Nashville, Tennessee; Austin, Texas; Jacksonville, and Milwaukee.

The airport recently completed a move of explosive detection machines into their own room, freeing up terminal space and speeding up the check-in experience, MassLive reported. “What we are after, we are trying to get a much useful life as we can out of this building,” Dillon explained, “before we have to incur the cost of adding a new terminal.”