Hartford Business Journal

12 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | September 26, 2022 Kevin Dillon is the executive director of the Connecticut Airport Authority, overseer of Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Taking Flight With new direct route to Jamaica, Bradley Airport eyes more domestic/international service, 10M passengers By Hanna Snyder Gambini hgambini@hartfordbusiness.com L anding Spirit Airlines and a new nonstop service from Bradley International Airport to Jamaica was a deal years in the making, according to Connecticut Airport Authority Executive Director Kevin A. Dillon. Bringing a new destination and airline together requires a great deal of work behind the scenes — and some financial incentives — before a service can take flight. Dillon is still celebrating the recently announced and long-awaited Jamaica flight, but he's not resting on his laurels, pushing forward with efforts to add more domestic and international nonstop routes with an ambitious goal to increase Bradley Airport's annual passenger count to 10 million. That would be significantly higher volume than the 7 million passengers Bradley recorded in 2019 — right before the pandemic upended air travel. "I do believe that if we are successful in continuing to add airlines and destinations, we could become a 10-million passenger airport," Dillon said. "That would put us in a nice solid position in the medium hub category." Population demand State and airport officials gathered in early September to announce that Spirit, starting Dec. 15, will offer nonstop service from Bradley to Montego Bay, Jamaica, for the first time. The flights will run year-round, four times a week. Bradley in Windsor Locks is New England's second-busiest airport after Logan in Boston. Connecticut is home to the fifth- largest population of residents with Jamaican ancestry in the U.S., with more than 56,000 here, according to census data. Dillon said working for a Jamaica flight was "really a reflection of the huge Jamaican population that lives in the Greater Hartford area as well as throughout Connecticut. So, I felt all along that would be a very successful market." The Jamaica route will also trans- port cargo and serve residents from Connecticut and surrounding states looking for a convenient, direct flight to a popular vacation destination. Dillon said securing a new deal is a challenge and takes years of negoti- ating, not only because the Jamaica route was, at the time, speculative, but since Bradley is also competing with every airport in the country for limited aircraft. "For years, we have been talking to a number of carriers here about what we saw as the potential for Jamaica. But when you have these speculative routes, it needs an added boost to convince an airline that you're willing to share some of the risk, and that's why we were very fortunate that the state also felt that this was a very, very important route to deliver here at Bradley," Dillon said. The Federal Aviation Administration prohibits airports or aviation agencies from offering revenue guarantees, but the state Department of Economic and Community Development could. DECD drafted a $2-million incentive that subsidizes the airline for any per-flight revenue shortfalls in the first two years. "So, in this particular case, we were able to convince Spirit Airlines that we think (Jamaica) is a good route to begin with, and the state was willing to put forward this revenue guar- antee, and that's really what helped us get it done," Dillon said. Bradley also has its own incen- tive program to waive certain rates and charges to airlines, as well as provide marketing to promote airlines and destinations. BRADLEY AIRPORT EYES $225 MILLION IN NEW PROJECTS Amid anticipated future growth, Bradley International Airport is poised to undergo two major renovation projects totaling more than $225 million, with the goal of opening up more space for travelers. The airport plans to spend $185 million on the design, development and construction of a new building for TSA baggage inspections and handling. Another $41 million project will pay for additions to the east and west ends of Bradley's Terminal A, with approximately 20,200 square feet for improved circulation of passenger arrivals and departures. The project also includes renovation and infill of the existing center core of the terminal to allow for expansion of passenger circulation in the main TSA security checkpoint.

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