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n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m | A p r i l 2 0 2 3 | n e w h a v e n B I Z 11 Washington Trust Wealth Management® is a registered trademark of The Washington Trust Company, which has licensed its use to its parent, affiliates, and subsidiaries, including Washington Trust Advisors, Inc. Investment products are offered through Washington Trust Wealth Management. Non-deposit investment products are: not deposits; not FDIC insured; not insured by any federal government agency; not guaranteed by the Bank; may go down in value. Long-term planning for you. For them. For everyone to come. 800.582.1076 Let's assume we get a decision (from the FAA) in early summer, within two years, both (the runway and new terminal) projects could possibly be completed. at may be a little bit aggressive, but it'd be two to three years I would say for completion, including all necessary approvals and finished construction. What are the biggest challenges facing the airport? Trying to provide a high level of service in the existing facilities to the large volume of passengers. We have seen rapid growth here in the past year, and our facilities are quite strained. So, we really need to address that. We are going through some growing pains. We are trying to accommodate everybody on all sides. It's why we need to get this terminal moved and get it so it is more compatible with the neighbors. What feedback have you gotten so far from the business community about Tweed? ey really enjoy it, and they would like to see some additional service and connection to the national system. Business travelers are looking for a little more frequency, and I think we will grow into some of that. Customers can now fly from Tweed to several new destinations. Will this expansion continue? at is purely an airline decision, a business decision they make, usually determined by the demand in the service area. e good news is we have a very large catchment area here. (ere are approximately 2.2 million people within a 30-mile drive of Tweed, according to the McFarland Johnson report.) The relationship between the airport and some neighbors has been conten- tious at times, with some opponents vowing to fight any expansion. How do you aim to improve this relationship? I think some of that stems from the fact that it is an older facility. e terminal in its current location is in close proximity to residents. We are looking to relocate that to the other side and move it to more compatible land. Adjacent to where we are going is industrial and commercial-type operations, taking the terminal operation away from the residential neighborhood. Do you think this will help allay some neighbors' concerns about traffic? With the location of the current terminal, the (vehicle traffic) access is not ideal at all. It is coming through a residential area. Where the new terminal will be located, it will have much better access through more industrial areas. Neighbors also have mentioned con- cerns about noise and the environment. How is the airport addressing these? As for (concerns about) noise, by extending the runway, we will be able to accommodate a growth in passenger traffic with fewer flights. Today, what happens is some flights have to go out of here with empty seats because it is a weight restriction because of the length of the runway. If we extend the runway, they can carry more passengers on the same airplanes. So, we can accommodate the growth without necessarily exponentially increasing the number of flights. e (new) terminal itself will have efficiencies. It will be a lot quieter operation, with a lot less emissions, and a much more efficient operation. Look at the environmental assessment, and you'll see there was a lot of work done identifying the different environmental items and making every effort to minimize any impact. e (extended) runway will have no wetlands impact and the (new) terminal will have minimal impact. What was your overall reaction to the draft environmental assessment report prepared by consultant McFarland Johnson? I think it was very well done. ey made every effort to minimize any impacts on the environment. It was actually quite revealing that there is not a lot of impact. And if there were any, they took every effort to address them. It was coordinated with a number of agencies, the FAA, the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. ere are a lot of different folks that have already reviewed and had input into it. It was very thoroughly done. Do you anticipate additional carriers using Tweed? at is hard to say, it is going to be driven by demand. We would hope to maybe entice some of the legacy carriers with connectivity to national hubs to open up to the entire U.S. airspace system. What do you think the economic impact of the expanded Tweed will be for the region? It is phenomenal. I am looking to hopefully get an updated economic impact study completed. ere have been over 250 jobs created, and there has been continuous hiring. What do you foresee Tweed will be like in five years, and in 10 years? I think it is going to be a tremendous, modern airport, with great service accommodating the high population of southern Connecticut. n

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