Hartford Business Journal

2 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | FEBRUARY 28, 2021 Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks. Breeze Airways setting up base at Bradley Airport Breeze Airways plans to set up an operations hub at Bradley International Airport, a move expected to create more than 200 jobs in the state. The Utah-based carrier, which has had a presence at Bradley since its operational launch last year, said the Windsor Locks airport will become its fifth "base of operations," meaning the airline will permanently house aircraft there, hire local pilots, flight attendants and mechanics and launch new routes. Breeze is adding eight nonstop destinations at Bradley, bringing its total number to 12. Company officials said they will announce where those new destinations are in the coming weeks. Breeze currently offers flights from Bradley to Charleston, South Carolina; Columbus, Ohio; Norfolk, Virginia; and Pittsburgh. The state is supporting the expansion with a grant in arrears of up to $1.3 million, contingent upon the company creating and retaining 212 full-time jobs. Rhode Island development exec is key player in West Hartford UConn campus redevelopment A top executive at a Rhode Island real estate development company has emerged as a key player in the redevelopment of UConn's former satellite campus in West Hartford, the Hartford Business Journal has confirmed. Domenic Carpionato has been named project manager for the ownership group that is heading the highly-anticipated and closely- watched project, officials confirmed. He is the senior vice president of Carpionato Group, the firm currently developing the Avon Village Center project, a major office, retail and residential development in the heart Biz Briefs Editorial Greg Bordonaro | Editor, ext. 139 gbordonaro@hartfordbusiness.com Zachary Vasile | Web Editor, ext. 128 zvasile@hartfordbusiness.com Beat: Energy Michael Puffer | Staff Writer, ext. 145 mpuffer@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Real Estate, Economic Development, Banking & Finance Robert Storace | Staff Writer, ext. 127 rstorace@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Health Care, Higher Education, Arts & Culture Skyler Frazer | Staff Writer, ext. 145 sfrazer@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Manufacturing, Cannabis, Technology, Transportation Tim Doyle | Lead Researcher Heide Martin | Research Assistant Steve Laschever | Photographer Business Tom Curtin | Publisher, ext. 124, tcurtin@hartfordbusiness.com David Hartley | Senior Accounts Manager, ext. 130, dhartley@HartfordBusiness.com Daniel Schilke | Senior Accounts Manager, ext. 135, dschilke@HartfordBusiness.com Emily Paskind | Senior Accounts Manager, ext. 133, epaskind@hartfordbusiness.com Valerie Clark | Director of Audience Development, ext. 332 vclark@nebusinessmedia.com Jill Coran | Human Resources Manager jcoran@nebusinessmedia.com Megan Mason | Events Manager, mmason@hartfordbusiness.com Production Christie Novotny | Production Director, ext. 147 cnovotny@hartfordbusiness.com Peter Stanton | CEO, pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com Tom Curtin | President, ext. 124, tcurtin@hartfordbusiness.com Mary Rogers | COO/CFO, mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com Subscriptions Annual subscriptions are $110.00. 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Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Hartford Business Journal P.O Box 330 Congers, NY 10920-9894 Major Hartford employers eye March/April return to office H artford's largest employers are eyeing a return to the office over the next few months. Property and casualty insurer Travelers Cos. and CVS Health, the Rhode Island-based parent company of Hartford health insurer Aetna, said they will bring back corporate employees on a larger scale starting March 14 and 15, respectively. Meantime, a spokesperson for The Hartford said the company expects to meaningfully increase the number of employees returning to its offices April 4. Senior leaders will begin their return March 21. All three companies said they are embracing hybrid work models that will have workers in the office two or three days a week. The new policies will presumably send more local corporate workers back into Hartford on a regular basis, a possible boon to the many city businesses, including restaurants, that have long relied on commuters and have struggled without them. The Travelers Cos.' office building in downtown Hartford. HBJ FILE PHOTO of Avon that debuted its first phase — anchored by a 44,000-square-foot Whole Foods — late last summer. Carpionato Group is not the buyer or developer of the West Hartford property, officials said, but Domenic Carpionato will play a key role in any redevelopment efforts, although there are currently no plans for the property. UConn's former West Hartford campus, which years ago was purchased by a fintech company that planned to establish a major tech campus there but later abandoned the plans, was purchased late last year for $2.75 million by West Hartford 1 LLC. M&T Bank, People's United extend merger agreement while awaiting federal approval New York lender M&T Bank and Bridgeport-based People's United Bank have extended the window to complete their $7.6 billion merger while they still await federal approval of the deal, the banks announced. In a statement, M&T and People's United officials said they have extended their merger deal agreement — which was first announced a year ago — to June 1. The banks are still waiting on final approval from the Federal Reserve, which has yet to rule on the deal. Delays from the Fed's board of governors caused the would-be partners to miss their first prospective deadline, set for the fourth quarter of 2021, and have now apparently scrapped their back-up date, which was supposed to be Feb. 21. The deal could close sooner than June 1, depending on if and when the Federal Reserve approves the deal. Feds: CT's quit rate dropped in Dec., but over 110K open positions remain Connecticut workers were no longer quitting their jobs in record numbers by the end of 2021, but the state's labor market remains historically tight, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Around 39,000 people quit their jobs in December, down from 47,000 in November. The decline mirrored trends in most other states but is still a far ways off from normal, likely because workers are having an easier time moving into new roles than before the COVID-19 pandemic, or feel confident enough in their prospects to walk away without another job immediately lined up. Layoffs also fell, from 21,000 in November to 7,000 in December as the state's economy continues to stabilize and gradually recover from the lockdowns of early 2020. Analysts found there were around 110,000 open positions in Connecticut in the final month of PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Domenic Carpionato

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