The state Department of Transportation has decided to conduct a nationwide search for a new top administrator at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, despite the interim administrator’s past expressions of interest in the post.
DOT Commissioner Ralph J. Carpenter said former Bradley administrator Stephen E. Korta II will return temporarily to replace Barry J. Pallanck as interim administrator while the national search is conducted.
Pallanck has been acting Bradley administrator since 2004. At the time of his interim appointment, Pallanck said that he was interested in making the temporary appointment permanent.
Instead, Pallanck will now become assistant airport administrator for the five general aviation airports operated by the DOT — in the Danielson section of Killingly, Groton, Hartford’s Brainard airport, Waterbury-Oxford, and Windham, according to Carpenter.
Korta was Bradley administrator prior to being named DOT Commissioner in 2004. Most recently, he has been transportation aviation administrator within the DOT’s Bureau of Aviation and Ports.
Mysterious Move
The announcement gave no reason for Pallanck’s move. Bradley spokesman John Wallace referred questions to Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s office. Rell spokesman Rich Harris said he could not discuss the specifics of Pallanck’s departure.
Carpenter said he looks forward to “active participation in a comprehensive national search” for a permanent Bradley Administrator, which, he said, will begin as quickly as possible.
Also in the announ-cement, Rell said the national search for a new Bradley chief is a prudent move, given the airport’s economic significance to the state.
“Bradley is among the fastest-growing airports in the country and we need a visionary leader to enhance its already excellent reputation for marketing and customer service,” Rell said. “A national search for this critical post will help ensure that we identify a top administrator to lead Bradley to even greater success in the future.”
Growing Facility
Rell said the state has “witnessed dramatic changes at Bradley, most recently the addition of daily nonstop international service.” That is a reference to the July 1 startup of Northwest Airlines’ service to Amsterdam.
With recent terminal and service expansions, Bradley is New England’s second-largest airport, with about 7 million passengers per year passing through its terminals.
Bradley also contributes $4 billion in economic activity in Connecticut and the surrounding region, representing $1.2 billion in wages and 18,000 full-time jobs, according to Rell. It also serves as a base for the Army and Air National Guard.
Originally a military airfield that opened in 1941, Bradley started commercial service in 1947. It is named for Eugene Bradley, an Oklahoma airman who died during a training exercise at the airfield in 1941.
