The head of Rhode Island’s airports will become the first executive director of the newly formed Connecticut Airport Authority.
The authority announced Wednesday morning Kevin Dillon will lead the organization overseeing the Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks and Connecticut’s general aviation airports. He will start the new position full-time in mid-July.
Dillon is currently the president and chief executive of the Rhode Island Airport Corp. overseeing T.F. Green Airport in Providence and that state’s five general aviation airports. In his 36-year career, he also has held leadership positions at the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, Manchester-Boston Airport, the Massachusetts Port Authority, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
“This is a real exciting opportunity,” Dillon said. “You are going to see some very good things here in the future.”
Dillon’s hiring is the first major decision by the Connecticut Airport Authority, which was formed in 2011 to be a more nimble and market-responsive overseer of Connecticut’s airports. The agency has deferred major decisions — such as the hiring of a marketing and route development manager and working on new flight strategies — until the executive director was filled.
Dillon said some of his goals include returning international commercial service to Bradley, setting up a West Coast non-stop, develop a more healthy route structure at the airport, and spur businesses coming into the towns surrounding the airport.
“There’s a real ability to support overall economic development and corporate business development,” Dillon said.
The airport authority was formed specifically to make Bradley and the state’s five general aviation airports more attractive to airlines and bring in new routes to support Connecticut’s economic development.
“The business community has been very supportive of the CAA,” said Mary Ellen Jones, chairwoman of the CAA. “It feels like a nice long honeymoon.”