Bradley International Airport

[beerbeer]

HA!

just noticed this.   The brussels car rental was extremely interesting from my perspective.  did you use Eurocar?

 

I rented at Eurocar in Brussels and was just lost and confused by it.

 

 

I dont tend to fly US Air or American, but looking at the flights they have now, they are starting to look more beneficial overall.

 

American/US does direct to Dallas, Miami, Chicago, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Philly and now to LA.  I am not sure thats quite enough to go international off of because most of those are hub cities that already have their own trans atlantic.  The best feeder for transatlantic would be Dallas and LA, but I can only assume that Charlotte, NY, Miami etc, are all better connecting locations than Hartford for international traffic. 

 

What is great though is the trans pacific options gained out of Hartford.  This flight will save time for alot of business travelers from the area.

 

I know I have heard people complain about a lack of a West cost connector when I travel.

 

I haven't rented Eurocar.  I rent AVIS just like I do in the states.  I've rented AVIS England, Italy, Brussels, even on a Greek island.  The Bradley set up for Avis work just like most USA bus-to-car set ups.  I really hate places like Phoenix where you hop on the bus and then ride for 15 minutes.  For bus-to-car Bradley is very quick and works well.

 

The new LAX flight is interesting.  Without knowing the business hubs that are most connected to Hartford, it's hard to know how successful the connection wil be.  But the non-stop going west will cut three hours off the trip. Leave at noon and you should be landing in LA before 3:00. It makes California very convenient --until you get on the 405.

Edited April 12, 2013 by beerbeer

[The Voice of Reason]

BDL has added a few flights recently!

 

With the American flight to LA

 

Jet Blue to 2 more Florida cities  tampa and Ft Meyers

 

and now

 

Southwest to Atlanta

 

 

What makes all this the more interesting to me was the jet blue flights.  go on their route map.  Other than their hige hubs... Hartford has alot of flights.   more than most cities.  we now have 5 direct flights with them.  I am not sure how many more could be added because we are smack between their 2 north east hubs.  But its good to see that jet Blue values Hartford more than Providence, Worchester, Albany Buffalo and many other cities.

 

its great to see these new routes.  lets hope there continue to be more!

[beerbeer]

Very good news.  The management of BDL is now completely out of the hands of the CDOT.  With the incompetent bureaucracy out of the way, things have already begun to change. Most airports put in cell phone waiting areas years ago. The DOT never acted, perhaps, my cynical side says, because they are in bed with the parking lot owners. The new board already has one up and running.  Next, European flights will become a priority.

 

One thing I don't expect, the DOT budget should go down now that they have less to do. That's probably asking too much. 

 

But his is a very god step for the #1 economic generator in the state of Connecticut and a resource critical to any growth of its capital city. And let's look on the up side. Great step in the right direct!

 

http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-ed-airport-authority-20130703,0,7459697.story

[The Voice of Reason]

yes, this is a fine move.  I am wondering what the future will hold for BDL, I think there is a ton of potential and it will be interesting if we can reach that potential with the "new" agency.

 

 

What I most want to see is more industrial uses arround the airport.  While passenger movement is key, freight is almost more important because it brings warehouses and manufacturing jobs. 

[CTnative4444]

 

Where do I begin….?

I think the first thing to mention is that though I think the rendering of the new terminal makes my stomach tingle with excitement….I don’t think Bradley is anywhere near needing any additional Terminal space. Our yearly passenger’s statistics have been dropping off and on for the past 10 years. For the amount of passengers we get now the number of gates we have should be able to sustain us for the next 15 years….MINIMUM!

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for expanding our facilities at Bradley, but only if TRUE demands require it.

I personally would love for me to wake up tomorrow and have Bradley be an airport racking up 10 million passengers a year. Hell, I’ve personally drawn out 3 different renderings for my fantasy version of Bradley and all of them had a minimum of 100 terminal gates, but realistically none of that will happen for a very very very long time….if ever.

 

I would love for more routes to open up. I have a personal wish list of San Diego, San Fran, Seattle, Houston, New Orleans, St. Louis, and additional slots at Vegas, Miami, and Denver. Not to mention International service to London, Frankfurt, Dublin, Kingston, Nassau, St. Thomas, and Bermuda. However, after I’ve had my sugar high I remember that most of that is just wishful thinking for now and hope our new formed Airport Authority has some sparks in the works.

 

The second thing is that I think our new airport authority should help the Hartford and Springfield corridor to get corporations to the area.

The reason being is that there are only three ways Bradley will have enough of an increase in traffic for a new terminal B to be suitable at this point in time.

1) Have huge corporations set up shop in the area. I’m talking we need 2 or 3 Fortune 500 companies to build huge work forces in the area.

2) Make the area a tourist destination. Make a huge Disney-like park and call it Colonial World….idk.

3) After looking at how many other airports work….why not have Hartford be the first to sign up for those European low cost airlines to set up a Hub in the states. Imagine having a Ryanair or easyjet American hub. Can you say EPIC!

 

Moreover, we need a bigger population, many more jobs in the area, and reasons for tourists to come here….and the rest will follow suit.

 

I think that most of us have a biased view because we’re talking about something that we all have a personal relationship to….it’s our airport! We want to see it do great things and succeed past its current state, however, we’re not the ones that have to be convinced of its greatness. It’s the third party viewer, the guy that says Hartford is a “hole” or “not worth it”….that has a company willing to move to a new location…. That is the person we need to be talking to.

[beerbeer]

If you look at the top 30 airports about half are down from their all time highs and many others are relatively flat. 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_the_United_States

 

(Sorry to use wikipedia).  So Bradley’s move from a high of 3 million to it’s current 2.6 million isn’t awful.

One thing is (or was) awful. The recently ended DOT stewardship of the airport was awful. Even in the 90’s when air traffic was booming by double digits, Bradley growth lagged behind. I beleive that was caused by the lack of forward thinking. Therefore rather than wait for passenger counts to increase before heavy investment in Bradley, I think that upgrading now before the next wave of national growth is a better way forward. I know it’s unusual in New England, but why not face the future with optimism and put Bradley in position to catch the wind.

 

Currently there are around 30 gates, only two of which can support a 767 or bigger aircraft.  A new terminal and additional 19 gates would allow a great deal of growth.  And that is the job of the airport. It is the #1 economic generator in the state. In addition, the cargo capacity of the airport should be improved as well. Cargo drives the economy. Doesn’t it make sense to keep cargo capacity above actual use to allow for growth?

 

Of course, we're talking about vision here, something the DOT had none of.
 

Edited July 25, 2013 by beerbeer

[The Voice of Reason]

all things being equal, I much prefer unecessary spending at the airport considering the chance that it might create opportunities for growth over spending on highways or the busway.

 

Mind you the busway is at least a form of mass transit although a poor one.

 

 

I think the key for our future is having a few more gates capable of serving larger aircraft.  newer aircraft are more efficient and some make Hartford more economically viable for certain distances

 

I would love to see a direct to china or the middle east.   with the growing business ties that hartford area companies have with Asia, it might be viable. 

[CTnative4444]

Beerbeer,

 

I can concur that many of the top 30 airports of our country are either low or flat, however, do you think this has anything to do with the change of the Airline industry as a whole? Think about the 90's and even the early 2000's....many Hub airports were closed due to Airlines converging and most likely prices of doing business. The airline industry like many others had to figure out ways to cut costs, and though we've started to see a turn around with that many airlines have elected to stick with their new ways of running their company. I've noticed the occasional airline trying out a route to see if it flops or not, but many airlines are sticking to either the main money maker routes in the states (NY-LA, ORD-SFO ex.)or international travel. In my opinion, the number of international travelers from Bradley isn't large enough to sustain a year-round non-stop to anywhere at this point. Look at the numbers for Amsterdam, which has one of the largest networks in Europe. If anything I would say that we could have seasonal service during the summer to somewhere like London or Rome. I mention Rome because Connecticut has one of the largest Italian-American populations in the country.

 

I will definitely agree that Bradley should be putting more emphasis on their UPS sorting hub operations. I think that would do wonders for the area. Maybe we could get some cargo flights to Europe! BDL-CGN sounds nice!

 

 

Voice of Reason,

 

I can not agree with you more about the busway. Every time I think about it I cringe. Nice effort, but no thank you. It would be great if this invention called a tram or train weren't invented, but they are. I feel like the board who decided this was a good idea realized Connecticut needed more mass transit, but opted out for the Dollar Store version of what they should have done. As for direct service to China or the Middle East, no offense, but don't hold your breath. Boston, who averages 25 million passengers a year just got direct service to Tokyo this past April and only because of the 787 being put online. I won't lie though, after watching Emirates fly to almost EVERYWHERE with a runway in Europe, I'd be first in line to watch a 777-300ER land at Bradley for regular service to Dubai.

Edited July 25, 2013 by CTnative4444

[The Voice of Reason]

So, I guess that my point though.  as the 737 MAX comes out and the A-320 Neo too, you will see a ton of potential new destinations open up.

 

As is, Hartford is mostly served by out of date MD-88's in the Delta Fleet, and even as they switch to newer craft, you will see potential markets become more affordable for them to fly. 

 

Specifically these small single asile planes will have the biggest affect on Hartfords airport, and add in a few of the newer widebodies Hartford might be able to server as a better regional airport.

 

Again however the Airport authority needs to get itself included in the commuter rails with an easy track terminus.

 

In fact, I think if the authority offered space for the maintenance yard or something they could guarantee regular service.

 

IF the rais connects to Metro north at Waterbury and New haven, as well as up to Springfield and further north, the train could feed passengers to the airport

[The Voice of Reason]

Talked to the captain and a stewardess that were on their overnight layover for the new LAX flight.

they liked the city and all, so thats nice to hear, but I thought it interesting to hear from the stewardess that the plane was backed.   and apparently it is "Booked out" meaning that its consistantly full.  

 

Not sure if she was being technical or figurative, and that the plane was literally full or whatever, but I do like hearing that deman is very high.

 

I then had to explain why as she was confused by the demand.   So I mentioned that lots of CT companies have serious national presence, and BDL to LAX leads to China, and companies like UTC do alot of business in China.

 

anyhooooo

 

IF post merger AA-US Air can sustain this flight AND maybe fill a larger plane, then maybe AA will consider some other connections out of BDL towards Europe.

 

It may also help for AA to add a flight from LAX to Australia or NZ or even China.

 

all in all, high hopes,

 

but glad to hear a positive about the LAX flight none the less

 

 

[CTnative4444]

A few quick questions for anyone who has the answer....

 

 

What is the sq. footage of the proposed new terminal building?

 

What is the current passenger capacity of Bradley and what would it be if the proposed terminal is built?

Also, who would occupy the new terminal building when built? 

[CTnative4444]

So, I just finished reading the June 2012 Environmental Assessment, which had a lot of interesting information.

 

1. The projected Forecast of total Enplaning/Deplaning Passengers for 2023/2028 is 8,655,000/ 9,656,000.

 

2. Additionally, the Forecast of Annual and Average Daily Passenger Aircraft Operations is to reach 340 by 2023 and increase again to 372 daily

    operations by 2028. To give some perspective, the last time I checked and I could be off by a little; our current daily passenger operations

    was around 150ish. That's over 50 more planes landing and departing a day!!

 

3. "Terminal A currently has 23 gates. However, due to anticipated changes in aircraft wingspan over the forecast period, an effective reduction

     in the number of gates from 23 to 20 is anticipated to occur at Terminal A. Forecast demand by 2028 is for a total of 29 to 31 gates, revealing

     a deficiency of 9 to 11 gates by 2028. Using the anticipated levels of growth identified in the updated forecasts, the demand in Terminal B

     would be 3 to 4 gates by 2018, 6 to 8 gates by 2023, and 9 to 11 gates by 2028, with a total potential development of 19 gates. The

     corresponding terminal area to meet the gate and activity requirements is 506,100 GSF. (Hirsch Associates, 2010)"

Edited November 30, 2013 by CTnative4444

[The Voice of Reason]

No answers to your first post regarding size, but I do know that the current "new" terminal is sufficient for our current volumes.  The New terminal would do a few things though.  its my understanding that it would be able to handle larger aircraft making it easier for airlines to use Bradley with their newer planes and for international flights.

 

also it would include international customs space for those flights.  apparently currently its a weird temporary building and so airlines shy away from subjecting its customers to this experiece.

 

Regarding the second post you made... WOW, thats a huge increase.  is that based on global factors or is that because Hartford is projected to need more flights..   does that make sense?  I hope Bradley becomes a more important airport so we get better connections.

 

 

An article today identified possible flights to San Francisco and San Diego in the coming years as well as a focus on Raleigh, Ohio, and of course Europe.

 

I suspect that if BDL could support 3 West Coast flights, it could easily schedule a European flight that they would feed.

 

If that were one airline, that would be a HUGE commitment to BDL.  US/AA operate the new LA flight, so im curious if they are considering of adding more due to its popularity.

[CTnative4444]

to answer your question, those numbers are based on a statistical formula. I do not put much weight behind their numbers though. I remember a similar occurrence that said by 2014 we would have 8 million passengers per year. Um, that's in a year and we need at least an additional 1.5 million a year....

 

What article identified possible flights to the west coast?

[beerbeer]

to answer your question, those numbers are based on a statistical formula. I do not put much weight behind their numbers though. I remember a similar occurrence that said by 2014 we would have 8 million passengers per year. Um, that's in a year and we need at least an additional 1.5 million a year....

 

What article identified possible flights to the west coast?

 

This article. http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/20131202/PRINTEDITION/311279960

 

One reason for confidence in the new projections is that the airport is now being run by adults and not the CDOT.

[CTnative4444]

I wonder what airlines we would be able to attract for the new potential routes that were spoke about in the article. My guess is the following.

 

San Fran- United

San Diego - Southwest

Raleigh - Delta

Columbus - Delta

Phoenix -Southwest

 

Had to sneak that last one in there.... 

[The Voice of Reason]

I wonder what airlines we would be able to attract for the new potential routes that were spoke about in the article. My guess is the following.

 

San Fran- United

San Diego - Southwest

Raleigh - Delta

Columbus - Delta

Phoenix -Southwest

 

Had to sneak that last one in there.... 

 

I absolutely do not see Southwest flying direct to San Diego.  They do not like long haul flights.

I think there will be alot of changes now that US Air and American have merged, so do not cout them out of the mix.  they took the LA flight on and it has been successful.  they may see potential with the other california cities as a result of this early success.  Jet blue also likes cross country flights and since they opened service out of BDL they have expanded rapidly.  I see the potential of a BDL west coast flight covered by jet blue.

 

Honestly though the biggest motivator for those long haul flights is a connection to Europe and Asia depending on the direction of travel. 

 

AA flies to LA and then connects on to Asia...

Whomever connects to San Diego or SFO would need to offre additional destinations and I just know very little about that.  Also a factor is the airline alliance program.  So wither AA will get a competitor in United or Delta, or they will enhance their draw from the West to feed a flight to Europe.

 

It all really depends on what other feeder flights might be stacking up in BDL by each of those airlines if there is an Europe flight on the table.

 

Who knows, but I like the goals they all have and it would be great to get BDL to act more like the Raleigh Airport. 9 million or so passengers with a daily flight to london!

[CTnative4444]

This is for everyone....

 

What do you think are the most realistic International destinations for BDL? and when do you foresee them becoming reality?

 

my list:

 

Nassau, Bahamas

London, England

Frankfurt, Germany

 

Short list, but that sums it up.

[The Voice of Reason]

There is always a change for more warm weather flights.

 

I am always surprised we dont have a durect to Jamaica.  

Huge Jamaican population and of course its a popular vacation spot.

 

Also my company does work there and is often flying people between Hartford and MBJ

 

Alos cancun would make sense..

 

 

anyways...

 

 

as far as "real" international flights?

I lean towards a European Hub.

 

UNited would hook to Frankfurt as its the Star alliance hub over there.

 

Delta would likely go to Paris, Milan where I think Paris the likely candidate again as they are hubs for the Sky team.   Specifically Paris is a strong option due to all the Aerospace business there in addition to hub status and tourism. 

 

London is most likely for an AA/US Air flight.  maybe with a small chance at Madrid.

I see London as one of our best bets. 

 

Jet Blue and Southwest tend not to do much international and I dont see them starting with Hartford.(except for sunny warm places of course.)

 

So, I would bet on Paris and London with Frankfurt in there too

[CTnative4444]

There is always a change for more warm weather flights.

 

I am always surprised we dont have a durect to Jamaica.  

Huge Jamaican population and of course its a popular vacation spot.

 

Also my company does work there and is often flying people between Hartford and MBJ

 

Alos cancun would make sense..

 

 

anyways...

 

 

as far as "real" international flights?

I lean towards a European Hub.

 

UNited would hook to Frankfurt as its the Star alliance hub over there.

 

Delta would likely go to Paris, Milan where I think Paris the likely candidate again as they are hubs for the Sky team.   Specifically Paris is a strong option due to all the Aerospace business there in addition to hub status and tourism. 

 

London is most likely for an AA/US Air flight.  maybe with a small chance at Madrid.

I see London as one of our best bets. 

 

Jet Blue and Southwest tend not to do much international and I dont see them starting with Hartford.(except for sunny warm places of course.)

 

So, I would bet on Paris and London with Frankfurt in there too

 

I totally agree with your statement about Jamaica.

 

We do have a large population of Jamaicans,but also Irish, Puerto Ricans, Polish, German, Hungarian, French, and Italians....

 

With all that, we should be able to dig up at least one flight to Europe!

[beerbeer]

I agree that Jamaica is a no brainer.

 

Amsterdam was a very reasonable choice.  I'm somewhat surprised it didn't work. That would seem to knock out places like Brussels or Copenhagen and their southern equivalents like Madrid or Lisbon.

 

Frankfurt is a huge European hub.  It is central to everything. That could work

 

That leaves London or Paris or, perhaps Rome thought the latter would be a less convenient connection.

[CTnative4444]

My opinion, in order of possibility:

 

1. London Heathrow (Most connections in Europe)

 

2. Paris Charles De Gaulle (Most Connections with Delta, which is our second used carrier)

 

3. Frankfurt (decent sized population steaming from this area, however don't see United offering this....especially when they dont currently offer service to one it

    largest hubs in our own country (SFO).

 

4.) Rome Fiumicino (large population of Italians could help support this, but as beerbeer stated above....somewhat out of the way from most European Hubs.

[The Voice of Reason]

I totally agree with your statement about Jamaica.

 

We do have a large population of Jamaicans,but also Irish, Puerto Ricans, ,,,,,

 

We do already have PR flights on Jet Blue.  I think those started in October.

[The Voice of Reason]

Amsterdam was a very reasonable choice.  I'm somewhat surprised it didn't work.

 

That leaves London or Paris or, perhaps Rome thought the latter would be a less convenient connection.

 

Amsterdam ended up dying because fuel costs skyrocketed while overall traffic demand dropped leading into a huge recession.  Apparently we had average travel numbers on that flight.   Not good, not week, just average.

 

Rome is not very likely for a few reasons. 1: Alitalia is in bed with Delta through their alliance and are even I think part owners.   I fleew to Rome on Delta/Alitalia and they made us stop in Milan. 

There are surprizingly few transatlantic flights into Rome.

a more likely flight is  BDL to Paris. Paris to Rome.

Paris is the main delta hub in Europe but they also are pretty busy out of AMS and Brussels.

 

I have actually flown all those routes amazingly.  and also Copenhagen for that matter was a decent Delta stop. some from BDL to atlanta, some from JFK after a drive.

 

Wish it all could have been from BDL

[The Voice of Reason]

My opinion, in order of possibility:

 

1. London Heathrow (Most connections in Europe)

 

2. Paris Charles De Gaulle (Most Connections with Delta, which is our second used carrier)

 

3. Frankfurt (decent sized population steaming from this area, however don't see United offering this....especially when they dont currently offer service to one it

    largest hubs in our own country (SFO).

 

As I said before, Rome would shock me.  also, remember that whole people do travel back to their homeland, that practice falls off drastically after just one generation.  Most ethnicities around Hartford are 2nd/3rd generation.... Except Puerto Rico and Jamaca...

 

Call me crazy but I think the truely most likely trans atlantic would be London Heathrow. 

With American and US merging they ar now a major player at BDL, and they chose to open the LA flight in the middle of the bankruptcy/merger (bold move)

IF anyone could feed a flight to Lonon right now it would be AA/US  

 

US just added flights to Barcelona, Manchester Eng, Brussels and Lisbon Portugal.

They already flew to paris, rome, london, Frankfurt, Dublin, Madrid.  Philly is their other hub on the East Coast. and now somehow NYC will play into tha as well with the merger.  BDL or BOS could be a focus city if they stink with Philly.

 

They also have that nice feeder Red Eye coming from the West Coast.  A morning flight to London would be perfect.

 

If they added another feeder in there like SFO or San Diego it would help