As Tweed New Haven Regional Airport gears up to renew its push for expansion in the upcoming legislative session, it is looking for help from the Connecticut Airport Authority, which runs Bradley International Airport.
The Tweed Airport Authority and the CAA said this week they have formed a working group to explore the feasibility of a CAA-Tweed partnership.
The group will be tasked with “developing a strategy for coordinating efforts” during the legislative session to advance Tweed’s development, city officials said.
Tweed officials want to lengthen the airport’s main runway by 1,000 feet to accommodate more and larger commercial jets, a move surrounding neighbors bitterly oppose, citing concerns about noise and traffic.
The Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce has said that expansion of Tweed is at the top of its 2019 legislative agenda. Business leaders have long cited the airport’s limited commercial service as a major drawback for companies looking to locate here.
“This is a positive sign that state and local leaders are moving toward consensus about the overall importance of Tweed and the need to support the greater New Haven business community with commercial air service,” New Haven Mayor Toni N. Harp said in a statement.
However, two of the region’s most influential lawmakers, Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney (D-11) of New Haven and Minority Leader Len Fasano (R-34) of North Haven are skeptical of a Tweed-CAA marriage, citing competing interests.
“The CAA is concerned with Bradley Airport [which it administers], which wouldn’t want competition from Tweed,” Looney told members of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce during a recent legislative breakfast.
Fasano told the New Haven Register this week that the idea of CAA taking over Tweed was “fantasy land.”
“I don’t know what interest the [Connecticut] Airport Authority has in taking over another entity that doesn’t make money,” Fasano told the Register.
Fasano’s district includes East Haven, where a portion of Tweed is located, and Looney represents New Haven’s Morris Cove section which is adjacent to the airport.
Tweed Executive Director Tim Larson said Thursday he is hopeful that both lawmakers will be at the table during the upcoming working group discussions.
“Sen. Looney and Sen. Fasano have an obligation to their constituents, and we have an obligation to present them with information and data that speaks to their questions,” Larson said.
The General Assembly failed to vote on a bill last session that would have overturned a state law setting a 5,600-foot-limit on the main runway, which airport officials say is too short to accommodate most commercial jets. Looney said at the time that the city’s efforts to engage the surrounding community came too late in the session.
The law was part of a 2009 agreement to end a years-long dispute between the city of New Haven and town of East Haven. New Haven owns the airport, which is located partially in East Haven. The airport and city took the state to court over the law in 2017. Officials said a decision in the case is expected soon.
In the meantime, Harp told East Haven and Tweed officials in a Jan. 2 letter that she was unilaterally terminating the agreement. Larson said the parties were given the option to pull out if the state failed to deliver on promises outlined in the pact.
“The only item ever completed was adopting a new structure to our board,” Larson said Thursday. “Everything else was invalid and incomplete.”
Larson said American Airlines’ recent addition of jet service to Charlotte, N.C. and Philadelphia demonstrate the strength of the greater New Haven air-travel market, which he said was among the most underserved in the country.
“It’s been 10 years [since the agreement was signed]. The world has changed and the market has changed,” Larson said.
Contact Natalie Missakian at news@newhavenbiz.com
