Hartford Business Journal

10 Hartford Business Journal • May 15, 2017 www.HartfordBusiness.com Aer Lingus adds to Bradley's lofty passenger traffic aims By Gregory Seay gseay@HartfordBusiness.com O n the eve of Bradley International Airport's peak air-travel season, Con- necticut's biggest air-hub is experi- encing a rebirth in trans-Atlantic flights from Aer Lingus and other overseas carriers. Since it launched direct, round-trip ser- vice to Bradley via Dublin, Ireland last Sep- tember, Aer Lingus has contributed directly to increased international traffic at the Windsor Locks airfield, Bradley officials say. Aer Lingus counted 21,861 passengers on its Bradley flights (including those arriving to and departing from Windsor Locks) from September through this February, accord- ing to data provided by the Connecticut Airport Authority. October was the airline's most active month, with its total passenger counts reaching nearly 7,000. "They're doing well. The service is performing as expected,'' said Kevin Dil- lon, executive director of the Connecticut Airport Authority, overseer for Bradley and the state's handful of smaller airports. In exchange for the state's $9 million rev- enue "stop-loss'' guarantee, Aer Lingus com- mitted to keeping its Bradley service for two years, through Sept. 2018. "We're expecting the service will stay in place past 2018,'' Dillon said. Aer Lingus spokesman Declan Kearney declined to comment on the airline's per- formance at Bradley so far. Kearney also declined to say whether its planes arrive at or leave Bradley full, half-full, or empty. He would only say that Ireland's flag carrier has begun accepting bookings for the winter-trav- el season, from October through next spring. Overall, Bradley continued in 2016 to see an uptrend in domestic-international pas- senger counts, to 6,060,943 — a 2.1 percent increase from 2015, data show. In 2015, all boardings rose 1 percent, to 5,933,080. They rose 8 percent in 2014, to 5,875,801. Bradley passenger counts are likely to continue to rise. Dillon said Bradley has capacity to support a departing-arriving passenger count above 10 million. Whether Bradley meets that goal, Dillon said, depends on the airport's ability to serve existing and future air carriers. "We think the market is capable of meet- ing that number," Dillon said. Passenger traffic is likely to experience another boost starting in June when Norwe- gian Air International will launch low-cost summer and winter flights to Edinburgh, Scot- land, out of Bradley. Norwegian flights will operate three times a week beginning June 17, and twice weekly during the winter season. Meantime, in late April, Spirit Airlines began low-cost flights between Bradley from Orlando, Fla. Spirit also has another Connecticut route, which is seasonal, to Myrtle Beach, S.C. Dillon says other air carriers have begun sniffing around Bradley in the wake of Aer Lingus' arrival and Norwegian Air's plans. He declined to identify them. n increased mobility for disabled people; and less congestion and pollution if the vehicles are used in ridesharing fleets that encourage peo- ple to leave their own cars at home, which also frees up parking lots for alternative uses like parks or housing, according to various reports. Downsides could include more sprawl if people move farther from the office because they can use commute time for productive tasks other than driving. Driverless vehicles are already being tested around the U.S., including by Google, Tesla and ridesharing company Uber and crashes have occurred. Those include an Uber crash in Arizona in March, a Tesla crash in Florida that killed its driver last year while the vehicle was in autopilot mode, and a Google collision with a bus in Mountain View, Calif., last year, according to Reuters. Uber began testing autonomous vehicles in Pittsburgh two years ago, when it also launched UberPool, where multiple riders in close proximity or on a similar route share one vehicle to their destination, thus reducing each rider's cost. Uber believes shared, self- driving technology will be key to future trans- portation, according to testimony on SB 260 submitted by Justin Kintz, Uber Technologies Inc.'s head of U.S. public affairs. Driverless vehicles will improve safety, relieve congestion and improve air quality, but before benefiting from self-driving tech- nology, Connecticut first must establish ride- sharing regulations, Kintz testified. Such legislation, already in many states, is pending. House Bill 7126, which passed the Insurance & Real Estate Committee in March, would require ridesharing networks to register annually with the state, display credentials, provide receipts for services offered digitally, and require national and state background checks of drivers. The state also would regulate what it calls "dynamic" or on-demand pricing for services, requiring companies to give customers notice of unusually high prices and cap the highest cost at 2.5 times the usual price charged any other time. Through a robust ridesharing network, Connecticut can maximize self-driving cars by operating them in shared fleets, Kintz said. Rather than replacing current vehicles with self-driving cars, a shared fleet allows more people to leave their vehicles at home, leading to less emissions and fewer vehicles on Con- necticut roadways, he said. Uber, which supports SB 260, wants the state to pause efforts to legislate self-driving rules while the technology is evolving and instead study what Kintz called the life-sav- ing benefits of the technology. If 260 is enacted, Leone anticipates a task- force report next year, "but we don't want it to end there," he said, anticipating possible reports every six months for lawmakers to consider. The taskforce, with industry experts on it, could address problems or risks learned through the testing and provide direction for future legis- lative sessions to help the industry grow not only from a technology perspective "but also from an oversight, regulatory perspective." Sean Slone, director of transportation and infrastructure policy for The Council of State Governments in Lexington, Ky., suggested in a blog earlier this year that states have to walk a fine line between encouraging the technology and regulating it. "In trying to encourage the development of these technologies and perhaps reap an economic windfall, states will need to guard against doing more harm than good through legislation and regulation," he said in summa- rizing the issue, adding that passing a patch- work set of laws could create uncertainty for car manufacturers. n Driverless Cars Bradley Airport Total Passenger Traffic 2015 2016 % Change Passengers who flew into Bradley 2,964,527 3,035,777 2.4% Passengers who departed from Bradley 2,969,281 3,025,166 1.9% Total Passengers 5,933,808 6,060,943 2.1% Bradley Airport International Flight Passenger Traffic 2015 2016 % Change Passengers who flew into Bradley 28,528 41,158 44.3% Passengers who departed from Bradley 26,919 38,521 43.1% Total Passengers 55,447 79,679 43.7% S O U R C E : C O N N E C T I C U T A I R P O R T A U T H O R I T Y Aer Lingus Traffic In and Out of Bradley Airport 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 Sept. 2016 Oct. 2016 Nov. 2016 Dec. 2016 Jan. 2017 Feb. 2017 S O U R C E : C O N N E C T I C U T A I R P O R T A U T H O R I T Y Connecticut's airports chief Kevin Dillon. Irish flag air carrier Aer Lingus has boosted Connecticut's international-flight boardings since launching direct flights last fall between Bradley International Airport and Dublin. P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D P H O T O | H B J F I L E

• Cover