🔒Bradley International Airport officials prep new 20-year, $1.4B master plan

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Bradley International Airport officials are recommending $1.4 billion in projects over the next two decades as part of an ambitious master plan that would prepare the state's largest airfield for millions of additional passengers.

Nearly two years in the making and involving the Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA), which operates Bradley, myriad consultants and other stakeholders, the plan will serve as a guide for accommodating future airline and passenger growth and building the airport's capacity as a key tool in the region's economy.

It's the first master plan under the CAA since the authority took over Bradley operations from the state Department of Transportation in 2013 and the first master plan update since 2005.

Notable projects recommended in the 417-page, $1.25-million plan include:

• A new passenger Terminal B connected to the current Terminal A.

• A new consolidated rental car and ground transportation facility with 830 parking spaces that will put all rental car companies in one space on-site and eliminate shuttling to rental sites.

• A reconfigured Schoesphoester Road that includes four roundabouts for smoother flow along the airport.

The Route 20 connector road into the airport is already being realigned through the former Lot 1 surface lot, to improve traffic flow into the airport and make room for the future rental car facility.

Other projects include taxiway enhancements, a new baggage inspection/federal inspection service facility, additional parking and more.

“We have plans that were already progressing that we know we're going to build, for example, the transportation center,” said Kevin Dillon, CAA's executive director. “We're very close to getting to the point where we're going to go out and finance that project,” which is estimated at $220 million and will be paid for through fees on rental cars, known as customer facility charges.

Dillon hopes to see ground broken for the project, near the Sheraton Hotel and in front of where the former Terminal B (Murphy Terminal) was, later this year, with completion in about 2021.

A new Terminal B, with about 440,000 square feet, would roughly double existing terminal space to about 843,000 square feet and connect to Terminal A for a “more cohesive terminal experience for passengers as well as the added benefit of lower costs,” the plan says.

It's the plan's biggest project, pegged at about $509.5 million over three phases starting with phase one in the 2023-2027 time period and phases two and three in the 2028-2037 period.

Before work would begin on a new Terminal B, though, the airport would maximize the capacity of Terminal A by relocating baggage explosive detection equipment currently consuming lobby space and making other changes to improve passenger capacity and flow.

“I've often said, I do believe at some point this airport could be a 10-million passenger airport,” Dillon said. “If we're going to get to that number and go beyond, we're going to need to improve this infrastructure over time.”

There were 6.4 million Bradley passengers last year, still below the 2000 and 2005 peaks of roughly 7.4 million and 7.2 million passengers, respectively. The 2000 peak was before the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the 2005 peak was before the Great Recession, rising fuel prices and massive industry consolidation that reshaped the industry and hit small- and medium-hub airports — including Bradley — hard, Dillon said. The master plan contemplates roughly 9.4 million passengers by 2037, an average annual growth rate of 1.82 percent. Passenger totals last year grew 6.2 percent.

Wish list or reality?

Although not cast in stone, the master plan is generally a road map to follow based on what's known today and will be periodically updated, based on changes that may occur after the plan, Dillon said.

“For example, if we're able to cultivate a major cargo development here at the airport, that could alter how we're looking at some of the expenses under this plan,” he said.

The plan will be submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration, which must approve it.

While it's difficult to say if every recommended project will get done, “as I sit here today, I do believe this is an accurate reflection of where I would look to take this airport if I were here for the next 20 years,” Dillon said.

To approach 10-million passengers requires Bradley to recapture passenger leakage to New York and Boston, he said.

“So in a market like this, it's all about seats,” Dillon said. “I continue to believe if we can get the seats here, we will fill them, that there's that much market strength.”

More passengers means more flights, which leads to more landing fee revenue, and rental car, parking and concession revenue, he said.

“Passenger numbers really drive our business across the board,” Dillon said.

Bradley's No. 1 selling point is convenience, Dillon said, so the master plan focuses heavily on projects enhancing that.

Economic driver

CAA board member and Suffield resident Scott Guilmartin acknowledged that many variables can influence the state's and region's economy in coming years, but he's comfortable the master plan allows for reasonable growth and is the correct blueprint for the future.

“While I want to be very optimistic about the region, I do think that over the next few years, Connecticut will continue to have some economic challenges that we'll work through and the airport will be positioned in a way to react to a more reinvigorated economic environment,” said Guilmartin, a partner in NuPower LLC, a sustainable power developer and investor with offices in Bridgeport.

“I think that this new rental car facility and parking garage will have a very positive impact overall on the airport,” he said. “And the reconstruction of Schoesphoester Road and the projects that will be associated with that will really be positively viewed and accepted by the public.”

The airport plays a significant role in the region's economic development, said Guilmartin, who chairs CAA's economic development subcommittee.

The airport's economic influence underscores the importance of the master plan and keeping up with and serving the region's economic needs, Dillon said.

“If business is going to thrive here in the state, if we're going to try to get business relocations to the state, one of the things right at the top of every business's list has to be a viable transportation network and the airport plays a very central part in that,” Dillon said.

Fitch Ratings has factored the master plan into its reviews of Bradley's finances and in its last report on Bradley debt in October affirmed the “A” rating on CAA's roughly $116.3 million of outstanding 2011 general airport revenue refunding bonds, with a stable ratings outlook.

Mark Lazarus, an analyst in Fitch's global infrastructure group and associate director, said there's been a consistent practice of conservative budgeting at Bradley and he cited healthy financial metrics and cash on hand.

“Naturally, those factors support healthy debt service coverage, which they've consistently maintained and we expect them to maintain going forward,” he said.

Seth Lehman, an analyst in Fitch's global infrastructure group and senior director, said Bradley is embarking on projects consistent with other airports, keeping up with growth and managing lifecycle costs to maintain a modern facility.

“We generally think it's positive when airports are thinking medium- to long-term about the needs of the airport and we don't expect Bradley to be a high-growth airport with significant capacity additions, but still modernizing facilities and upgrades … the more important needs of the airport,” he said.