🔒As air travel recovers, Bradley Airport looks to add new routes, restart others

Bradley International Airport’s only transatlantic route is in a holding pattern.

Aer Lingus’ much-heralded nonstop flight from the Windsor Locks airport to Dublin, Ireland, was paused when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, and likely won’t recommence for at least another year, said Kevin Dillon, executive director of the Connecticut Airport Authority, which oversees Bradley.

Dillon, however, expressed optimism that Aer Lingus won’t abandon the route it established in 2016, and about the airport’s recovery in general.

COVID-19 devastated air travel for more than a year and continues to hamper the airline industry, but Bradley actually added more routes than were grounded over the past 18 months. Since March of 2020, Bradley added 13 nonstop routes, according to CAA data. Six nonstop routes out of Bradley during that time were paused and remain suspended.

As passenger traffic improves and international business travel recommences, Dillon said CAA will continue to woo airlines — including an aggressive pursuit of a direct flight to London — by highlighting Bradley’s improving infrastructure and lower cost compared to hub airports in Boston and New York.

“Throughout the pandemic we have continued to maintain our competitive position,” Dillon said. “We are very active, we’re constantly talking to carriers to try to convince them to put additional seats into the market.”

Flight scorecard

When Aer Lingus started its nonstop flight to Dublin five years ago, Dillon, then-Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and plenty of others touted the route for providing Connecticut’s largest airport with a foothold in Europe.

“Having a direct flight to a European hub is so important for our business community,” said David Griggs, CEO of the MetroHartford Alliance. “Having that kind of connection builds bridges between companies [on each side of the Atlantic].”

The flight was considered so important that the state incentivized Aer Lingus’ entry into Connecticut by providing revenue guarantees backed by subsidies. In its first three years flying out of Bradley, the state paid Aer Lingus about $10.8 million in subsidies, data from the Department of Economic and Community Development show.

Under a deal with the state, the airline was eligible for up to $2 million in additional subsidies during the flight’s fourth year in operation — the final year subsidies would have been offered — but the pandemic grounded all international flights during this period. Dillon said he isn’t aware of any plans to further incentivize Aer Lingus’ Bradley route, so if the airline wants to continue the flight it will take on added risk.

The United States only lifted restrictions on European Union travelers last month, Dillon said. CAA had hoped Aer Lingus would restart flights in spring 2022, but now the end of next year is likely the earliest time frame. Dillon said he expects the airline will make a decision about the flight’s future by next spring.

In addition to the Dublin route, direct flights to Montreal and Toronto have also been grounded since the pandemic began, along with domestic flights to Cincinnati, Cleveland and St. Louis, according to the CAA.

Since the start of the pandemic, Bradley also added 13 new nonstop flights, including to seven new destinations: Nashville; Charleston; Columbus, Ohio; Las Vegas; Norfolk, Va.; Pittsburgh; and San Francisco.

On net, Bradley gained one destination during the pandemic, although the number of actual flights going in and out of the airport were down. Dillon said he expects paused routes will eventually resume.

Additionally, CAA continues to aggressively pursue a direct flight to London, which Griggs said would be a boon to the local business community that includes multinational companies like Stanley Black & Decker and Cigna.

“If you think about the business centers in [and around] Europe, London is definitely one of the most key business centers,” Griggs said. “So for us to have a direct flight to London would be very important.”

Business travel uncertainty

During the pandemic’s darkest days, Bradley Airport passenger traffic was down 90% compared to pre-pandemic levels. But traffic has improved each month since this past March, and traffic was down just 13.3% in July, compared to July 2019. That’s better than regional competitors like Logan International Airport in Boston, which was down 36.9% in July and Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in New Hampshire, which was down 31.6%, Dillon said.

Dillon said he expects passenger traffic to return to pre-pandemic levels by next spring. However, factors outside his control — namely to what extent business travel returns — present variables to that prognosis.

The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) reported that business travel in North America was down 79% from April 2020 through the end of last year. The group forecasted a 21% increase in business travel this year — with most gains coming toward the end of 2021.

More concerning is that GBTA predicts business travel — which generated $334.2 billion in spending in 2019 — won’t return to pre-pandemic levels until 2025, four years from now.

Pre-COVID, about 65% of passengers flying in and out of Bradley were business travelers, and Dillon acknowledges the airport’s recovery largely depends on this demographic of flyers.

“The big thing for us — in terms of continuing recovery and future recovery — really comes down to the business market,” Dillon said. “Our feeling is people have to get back into the office, they have to resume their business routines, and start taking business trips again.”

Another variable that could affect Bradley’s recovery is Tweed New Haven Airport. The smaller airfield located about 50 miles south of Bradley is trying to expand its runway, a move that could attract more commercial flights. An airport in such close proximity possibly competing for airlines and passengers could stymie the recovery for both locations, Dillon said.

Tweed Executive Director Sean Scanlon said he doesn’t see Bradley as a competitor. Tweed’s target market is about 1 million flyers in southern Connecticut that tend to fly out of New York’s LaGuardia and JFK airports.

“We’re trying to give them a more convenient local option, and that will not necessarily be at the expense of Bradley, per the research we’ve done,” Scanlon said. “We don’t want to be JFK, LaGuardia or even Bradley; we want to be southern Connecticut’s airport.”

American Airlines this month ended its daily nonstop Tweed-to-Philadelphia route, however Avelo Airlines in November is scheduled to start direct flights from Tweed to five Florida destinations, Scanlon said.

Competitive advantage

A number of factors bode well for Bradley’s recovery, Dillon said.

For one, it’s cheaper for airlines to fly out of Bradley than its larger regional competitors. Cost-per-enplanement — a key industry standard that measures the average cost per passenger for an airline to operate at an airport — at Bradley was $12.33 in fiscal 2020, lower than Logan’s cost of about $15, but slightly above Rhode Island’s T.F. Green’s rate of $11.35, according to Fitch Ratings. In the pre-pandemic year of fiscal 2019, Bradley’s rate was $8.44.

Additionally, Bradley’s under-construction ground transportation center should open to customers in May, Dillon said. The $210-million facility will house all rental car companies at the airport — eliminating the need for shuttle service to off-site locations, and therefore making it more convenient to fly out of Bradley.

“The sooner we can get that online, the better,” said Dillon, who noted long-term plans for the center include adding a rail stop.“I think it’s going to play a very key role for us going forward.”

Beyond that, CAA is largely sticking to its strategy of increasing its West Coast service, with an eye toward a direct Seattle route — which could connect to flights to Asia — and continuing efforts at attracting a London route.

Tony Sheridan, chair of CAA’s board and CEO of the Eastern Connecticut Chamber of Commerce, said he thinks Bradley is well suited to go after these new routes and attract a greater number of passengers, especially considering the ground transportation center opening next spring.

“It’s going to be a very modern airport, it’s going to be a very comfortable airport,” Sheridan said. “We’re in a great position to really grow over the next few years.”