Bradley International Airport

[TaylorG4444]

Which airlines offer NONSTOPS from Bradley to Orlando (MCO) - is it just Delta and Southwest? Thanks

Afraid so....US Airways usually has a Saturday only flight, but that's a seasonal thing

[Yankee.Peddler]

Well, unfortunately it can't all be blamed on them. Some of it has to do with the location; It's a good and bad thing at the same time. You would think some airlines (Delta, Northwest) would maybe use Bradley as a smaller feeder airport to Europe. Northwest does it slightly with flights connecting to AMS, but our location should be utilized much more than it is. We advertise as a less crowded, hassle free, second option to BOS, JFK, EWR, and LGA, but we don't have the connecting routes that would make more people choose to come to BDL instead. It's stupid to think that we can lure people from bigger airports that have many more non-stop routes without having some of the same that passengers would want (which is where the DOT and Kiran from the BDL board come in to play). The bad part about our location IS our location....too close to better options(as of now). I think if the DOT gets shaken up a little it would help us greatly with our status as a destination and feeder airport in the future.

You make a good point. I would also add that I think the airport's location between Hartford and Springfield keeps passenger volumes lower. If Connecticut's principal airport were theoretically located somewhere between Hartford and New Haven, it would be much larger than Bradley because (in addition to keeping its current passenger base) it would attract a greater number of travelers from New Haven and Fairfield Counties -- travelers who currently opt to use New York's airports.

[Chessplayer]

Here's a relevant HBJ article:

http://hartfordbusiness.com/news3479.html

"In Flight, Bigger is Better"

Bradley Officials say larger planes would boost airport usage

[TaylorG4444]

Not much to say about the article except for the fact that I like it....and that the 3 destinations mentioned (San Diego, San Fran, and Seattle) ARE destinations needed. The best bet for SD is probably Southwest; SF is probably United or Southwest(consider O&D numbers from BOTH SFO and OAK for the area); and Seattle is up in the air....maybe northwest.

Concerning the UK....I'd say RyanAirs' new planned start up to Stansted or Dublin would be the best bet. Don't really see one of our domestic carriers flying either of those routes....and definitely not a major Int'l (i.e. Aer Lingus, British Airways, BMI)

Good luck to Bradley with their plans. I hope everything go the way they would like it to.

[RLucas83]

Not much to say about the article except for the fact that I like it....and that the 3 destinations mentioned (San Diego, San Fran, and Seattle) ARE destinations needed. The best bet for SD is probably Southwest; SF is probably United or Southwest(consider O&D numbers from BOTH SFO and OAK for the area); and Seattle is up in the air....maybe northwest.

Concerning the UK....I'd say RyanAirs' new planned start up to Stansted or Dublin would be the best bet. Don't really see one of our domestic carriers flying either of those routes....and definitely not a major Int'l (i.e. Aer Lingus, British Airways, BMI)

Good luck to Bradley with their plans. I hope everything go the way they would like it to.

The west coast destinations id say good luck.... every major airline has litterally slammed on the brakes when it comes to transcontinental flying. I believe BDL-LAX will be only 4x weekly this winter and i think it was 5-6x weekly last winter. Fuel prices have made it extremely difficult and 95% of all additions have been red-eyes. SFO probably has the best chance possibly on Virgin america in the next 5 years if their start up plans stay on course. SAN and SEA are tough because no one really has a hub there and they are "dead end" markets meaning there is no connecting traffic on either end, making sucess all the more difficult. BDL-SFO i think will happen within 5 years though.

As for INTL, i think other airlines will want to see how BDL-AMS performs over a full year, loads and yeilds are below the INTL average, but the article says thats still above expectations (what were their expectations???)

The Ryanair thing is interesting but according to the folks there, everything is still in the conceptual stage, and so far they have met with BWI PVD ISP and CMH to my knowledge. I sorta call BS on what they are saying because if they have no plans for aircraft yet, then nothing is going to happen for another 4 years at the earliest, i think they may have a few tricks up their sleve. BDL could be one of the cities, but its not on the top of their list.

As for an INTL carrier, im wating for an airline like British Airways to do what the US carriers are doing to Europe and send 757s to the smaller US cities like BDL, PIT, PVD BUF, and CMH

I really dont think the floodgates to europe will open, but a new route every few years or so is certainly possible, probably London, Paris and Frankfurt within 10 years is likely feasible with one flight each on smaller intl aircraft, but i think thats about it (which still isnt too shabby).

[Theophrastus Bombastus]

The west coast destinations id say good luck.... every major airline has litterally slammed on the brakes when it comes to transcontinental flying. I believe BDL-LAX will be only 4x weekly this winter and i think it was 5-6x weekly last winter. Fuel prices have made it extremely difficult and 95% of all additions have been red-eyes. SFO probably has the best chance possibly on Virgin america in the next 5 years if their start up plans stay on course. SAN and SEA are tough because no one really has a hub there and they are "dead end" markets meaning there is no connecting traffic on either end, making sucess all the more difficult. BDL-SFO i think will happen within 5 years though.

As for INTL, i think other airlines will want to see how BDL-AMS performs over a full year, loads and yeilds are below the INTL average, but the article says thats still above expectations (what were their expectations???)

The Ryanair thing is interesting but according to the folks there, everything is still in the conceptual stage, and so far they have met with BWI PVD ISP and CMH to my knowledge. I sorta call BS on what they are saying because if they have no plans for aircraft yet, then nothing is going to happen for another 4 years at the earliest, i think they may have a few tricks up their sleve. BDL could be one of the cities, but its not on the top of their list.

As for an INTL carrier, im wating for an airline like British Airways to do what the US carriers are doing to Europe and send 757s to the smaller US cities like BDL, PIT, PVD BUF, and CMH

I really dont think the floodgates to europe will open, but a new route every few years or so is certainly possible, probably London, Paris and Frankfurt within 10 years is likely feasible with one flight each on smaller intl aircraft, but i think thats about it (which still isnt too shabby).

How IS that Amsterdam flight doing? I haven't seen any stats yet. Also, does anyone have any plans or photos for the monorail that supposed to go from Bradley?

[RLucas83]

How IS that Amsterdam flight doing? I haven't seen any stats yet. Also, does anyone have any plans or photos for the monorail that supposed to go from Bradley?

Load factors were in the 70's during the peak summer months (the average is mid to upper 80's), i havent seen the september #'s yet which is went European traffic starts to dip. Fares have been anywhere from $20-$100 less then BOS or NYC on average.

[beerbeer]

I read an article that said the Holland flight has exceeded expectations. You can take these comments with a grain of salt because they are from Bradley

Edited October 30, 2007 by beerbeer

[RLucas83]

I read an article that said the Holland flight has exceeded expectations. You can take these comments with a grain of salt because they are from Bradley

[uconn99]

September AMS numbers-

On- 3,962

Avg. 132/flight

83% load factor

Off- 3,672

Avg. 122/flight

76% load factor

Overall September load factor 127/per flight or 79% load factor.

Deplanements since start-

July- 3,947 (79% load factor)

August- 3,696 (74%)

Sept- 3,672 (76%)

----------------------------------------------------

Frontier (Denver) total passengers-

MAR- 5,720

APR- 6,436 (81% load factor)

MAY- 6,851 (84%)

JUN- 7,558 (95%)

JUL- 7,881 (96%)

AUG- 7,789 (95%)

SEP- 6,234 (78%)

Ricky, why the huge drop in September? I know travel goes down, however 95%-78% is a pretty big drop?

Numbers from Stacey Doan @ BDL ops. I did the % calculations so it may be off a bit.

Edited November 1, 2007 by uconn99

[RLucas83]

Rick, why the huge drop in September? I know travel goes down, however 95%-78% is a pretty big drop?

I got the #'s yesterday and i noticed that large F9 drop too, my guess is that Fall and Spring are DEN's slow months, plus Sept is a slow month for the new england airports, just look at how much Delta dropped off and they didnt alter their capacity at all. F9 still has really good loads but they may think harder before adding a 2nd year round flight and maybe just have a seasonal addition for the summer and or winter.

[uconn99]

I previously flew Northwest and Continental almost exclusively into BDL/PVD and 80% of the time had free first class upgrades thanks to being a Silver Elite member. After flying jetBlue I have stayed away in favor of more legroom (more than NW first class evan), nice flight attendants, and Direct TV.

I used to fly jetBlue into Boston on the PHX-BOS non stop route and connecting to the T into Providence, but after the flight got dropped I started taking PHX-JFK and connecting on the LIRR and Metro North to New Haven. All this additional trouble is still better for me than flying a legacy carrier from PHX-connecting city-BDL.

I have wanted to fly Frontier into BDL but every time their prices are $500-$700, most likely because of the high loads. Maybe I will get a chance to try them this winter.

Edited November 1, 2007 by uconn99

[MadVlad]

September is the month that kids go back to school. During the summer, Colorado is an amazing place to visit. After October, there is plenty of skiing to do, and relatives to visit for the holidays. I'm thinking there will be about 3 or 4 months that are clunkers going to Denver, and the rest will be great....

[Theophrastus Bombastus]

http://blogs.courant.com/travel_columnists...west-dropp.html

Southwest will drop one of its nine daily flights between Bradley and Baltimore as of May 10. It's part of a nationwide realignment that involves eliminating 57 round-trip flights and adding 40 others. That's 137 fewer seats a day out of Bradley. It's not a huge loss, but it's not encouraging. USAir recently dropped one of its four daily commuter flights to Pittsburgh, a 50-seat loss. And over the past several months Delta has reduced the frequency of its flight to Los Angeles - Bradley's only non-stop transcontinental flight - from seven days a week to three. Southwest will still have 18 flights a day out of Bradley - eight to Baltimore, three to Chicago, three to Orlando, two to Tampa, one to Las Vegas and one to Nashville. The schedule of the remaining eight flights to Baltimore will be spread out so that the earliest will continue to leave at 6:15 a.m. and the latest will leave at 9:10 p.m., just 10 minutes earlier than under the current schedule.

Also, I can't believe there isn't a direct flight to Philly...

Edited January 10, 2008 by Theophrastus Bombastus

[beerbeer]

I imagine the spike in fuel prices has everyone looking at their schedules everywhere.

[uconn99]

US Airways flys to Philly, I believe it is all regional jets now though. They use to fly 757's up until about 5 years ago.

[The Voice of Reason]

Should State Let Airport Fly Solo?

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-bradley0207.artfeb07,0,737051.story

In her mid-term budget proposal, Rell proposed spending $100,000 to study severing Bradley from the state Department of Transportation and creating a separate airport authority.

A more independent organization could offer greater control over hiring and more flexibility in negotiating with airlines, Frantz said, potentially resulting in more routes served and even lower prices.

I think this would be a positive step. there would be cost cutting measures simply due to the states bidding requirements. Staffing would surely also be a place for saving money. If the airport could be more profitable those monies could be used to lower airport fees and attract more flights and passangers.

[beerbeer]

That should have been done 25 years ago.

[HartfordTycoon]

I fully support Rell on her DOT break up initiative. I think Bradley will be a lot more agile with it's own Airport Authority running the show and like the article points out we will now really be able to focus on our core regional stakeholders.

[beerbeer]

The DOT wants to tear down Bradley and turn it into a highway.

[The Voice of Reason]

The DOT wants to tear down Bradley and turn it into a highway.

I would love to see what would happen if/when they build the rail network connecting New Haven, Hartford, Springfield all to Bradley. It seems to me that traffic should increase drastically. I think this DOT re org could speed this plan up.

[TaylorG4444]

The DOT wants to tear down Bradley and turn it into a highway.

Do you mean that they want to tear the airport down completely? As in....no more airport at all? Cause if that's the case you've got some people with massive brain damage over there in CT

Edited February 8, 2008 by TaylorG4444

[The Voice of Reason]

Do you mean that they want to tear the airport down completely? As in....no more airport at all? Cause if that's the case you've got some people with massive brain damage over there in CT

Taylor, he was being sarcastic.

The state is planning a rail network here that connects the airport to Hartford Springfield and New Haven. and the gov. just proposed seperating the airport from the DOT in terms of controll.

[MadVlad]

I heard they'll be replacing Bradley with a new bus system, but they'll only run over the current rail lines, which will be ripped out. Philly in 6 hours, here we come!!!!

[mikel]

Do you mean that they want to tear the airport down completely? As in....no more airport at all? Cause if that's the case you've got some people with massive brain damage over there in CT