Will Tweed New Haven Turn Again to Legislator to Lead Airport Operations?

“What happens in the November election will determine what happens at Tweed.” 

That comment, from the current Executive Director at Tweed New Haven Airport - Sean Scanlon – was made earlier this year.  Scanlan, on Tuesday’s ballot as the Democratic candidate for State Comptroller, appears to have been elected to that office. With 95% of the votes tallied statewide, his lead is 55.1% to 44.9%.

Scanlon is widely expected to resign his position at Tweed if current vote tabulations hold and he is elected.  In addition to leading Tweed, Scanlon has also been a state legislator, representing Guilford and Branford in the House of Representatives. At the legislature, he serves as the House chairman of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee.

He is the second consecutive Executive Director at Tweed to simultaneously be an elected member of the state legislature.

If, as expected, Scanlon is sworn into statewide office in January, will the Tweed board again look to the legislature for its new leader?

Too soon to tell.  There’s apparently been no comment on the subject from airport officials. 

Four years ago, in January 2019, then Gov.-elect Ned Lamont tapped the longtime executive director of Tweed New Haven Airport to lead the state’s Office of Higher Education. Tim Larson, at the time also serving as a Democratic state senator from East Hartford, resigned both positions to take the job with the new administration.

Larson had been leading the New Haven airport as Executive Director for a decade.  Tweed Airport Authority Chairman John Picard said at the time that “Tim was very good at his job,” adding “He is not going to be easy to replace.”

His replacement, named in October 2019, was a legislative colleague, Rep. Scanlon.  

The decision on who will be the next Executive Director at Tweed will be made by the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority Board, which is comprised of fifteen members: Eight members appointed by the Mayor of New Haven, five by the Mayor of East Haven, and two by the South Central Regional Council of Governments. At least six of the members must be New Haven or East Haven residents.  New Haven’s mayoral appointments must be approved by the Board of Alders. 

John Picard of West Haven continues to serve as Board Chair.  The Board is scheduled to meet next on Wednesday, November 16 at 4PM.  The meeting agenda has not yet been posted to the airport’s website.

One year ago, Avelo Airlines took flight for the first time from its new East Coast base at Tweed-New Haven Airport (HVN) for Orlando. Just last week, Avelo celebrated the first anniversary of that inaugural flight which, the carrier indicated “ushered in a new era of convenience, affordability and reliability for Connecticut travelers.”  

Avelo flew its 600,000th Customer at Tweed this month – representing a 1,400% increase from the passenger volume at Tweed as recently as 2019.   During the past year, Avelo has doubled its route network from six Florida destinations to 14 destinations spanning seven states. Avelo now serves more nonstop destinations from Connecticut than any other airline operating in the state.

Under Scanlon’s leadership at the airport, the Yale Daily News reported last week, Tweed expanded from having 80,000 to 500,000 passengers annually. “There is no question that … [Scanlon] brought Tweed back on the map,” Picard told the News.