Five years since COVID hit, CT’s Bradley International Airport aims for ‘even more growth’

Paul Schott

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

Sebastian Obando

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

Michael Juliano

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.