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Happy Landings?
The state of the state's airports in 2004
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Business New Haven
1/19/2004
By: Karen Singer
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Domestic and international air travel is on the rise, despite heightened concerns and security measures, and commercial passenger miles may well top pre-September 11, 2001 levels by the middle of the decade.
"Most forecasters are predicting more than a doubling by 2015, depending on the economy and where we are with security and terrorist issues," says Oz Griebel, president of the Metro Hartford Regional Economic Alliance and chairman of the state's Transportation Strategy Board. "And corporate air traffic is projected to grow even faster than commercial."
All this bodes well for Connecticut airports, which are upgrading facilities and courting carriers for more routes and competitive fares.
Griebel expects state-owned and -operated Bradley International Airport to maintain its role as "the primary airport for the state." Municipals airports such as Tweed-New Haven and Igor I. Sikorsky Memorial in Stratford also "will have significant roles to play, serving niche corporate and commercial markets," Griebel says, comparing their relationship to Bradley as similar to Westchester County Airport's with John F. Kennedy and La Guardia International airports.
Business New Haven examines how these three Connecticut airports are faring in the post-9/11 world.
Tweed-New Haven Airport
2004 could be a watershed year for Tweed.
After struggling to survive since an airport authority took over its management five years ago, the city-owned airport is poised for a possible turnaround.
Delta Airlines has signed a letter of intent to begin nonstop jet flights to Cincinnati, a major hub, and city officials and business leaders are optimistic that $1.9 million in revenue guarantees required by the airline will be raised shortly. Service could begin by early May, according to airport manager Rick Lamport.
The $1.9 million is part of a $2.1 million airport fundraising effort headed by Bruce Alexander, vice president and director of New Haven and state affairs for Yale University. Alexander says $1.5 million already is pledged. New Haven Savings Bank, Community Foundation, the Knights of Columbus and Yale University have pledged $250,000 each, and $100,000 contributors include the New Haven Register, Yale-New Haven Hospital, Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield, the United Illuminating Co. and SBC/SNET.
"We hope to complete fundraising by the end of January," Alexander says, adding the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce also is encouraging "all businesses in the New Haven area" to participate at some level.
"The business community has been very supportive of the notion that an airport with a couple of dozen commuter flights would be a real asset to economic development," Alexander says, "and they're indicating that by committing substantial dollars."
Lawrence J. DeNardis, chairman of the Tweed-New Haven Airport Authority, is similarly upbeat.
"I have no doubt we will make it," says DeNardis, who is president of the University of New Haven.
Another positive development concerns Independence Air, a new spin-off of Atlantic Coast Airline, which is considering a low-fare route from New Haven to Washington's Dulles International Airport.
Corporations and government agencies use Tweed for business travel, but the airport currently has only one scheduled commercial airline, US Airways Express, which has four daily flights from New Haven to Philadelphia. The airline recently made its fares more competitive with those at Bradley, resulting in some increased bookings.
Over the past decade the federal government has spent between $11 million and $12 million on capital improvement projects at Tweed, according to Susan Godshall, the airport authority's administrative director.
The newly updated master plan calls for constructing runway safety areas, upgrading navigational aids, and eventually paving those safety areas and extending the main runway by 600 feet. Other improvements include expansion of the current terminal building, more parking spaces, access roads upgrades and efforts to reduce aircraft noise.
Airport manager Rick Lamport says Tweed must increase the number of enplanements (passengers departing from the facility) from around 22,000 per year to at least 130,000 to eliminate the need for city and state operating funds.
Recent studies indicate that greater New Haven is "the second largest underserved market in the U.S.," says Lamport. Moreover, he adds the airport bustled with around 140,000 enplanements in the mid-1990s. At that time there were several carriers, including United, which stopped flying to Chicago in 1996 and US Airways, which discontinued flights to Washington's Reagan National Airport following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
State legislators approved $600,000 for Tweed's current fiscal year, but the New Haven Board of Aldermen recently released just $450,000 of a $900,000 subsidy.
"We want to see a clear marketing plan and a strategy to make it work," said Board of Alderman president Jorge Perez.
The strategy includes businesses "stepping up to the plate" with funds to support air travel, "increasing the quantity, quality and affordability of flights and services" and improving airport facilities, says New Haven economic development administrator Henry Fernandez, who is chairman of the airport authority's new Air Service Development Committee.
"This is clearly a transitional period for the airline industry, and they want new markets they can quickly enter and become a player in," Fernandez says. "We grow a tremendous amount of new business, from incubators in schools to large pharmaceutical firms. And the ability to move people and capital quickly is going to be increasingly relevant over the next 20 years."
Forthcoming image-building ads will stress the airport's easy accessibility and convenience, according to Beverly Levy, spokesperson for SBC/SNET, which is developing the marketing campaign.
"We're primarily targeting business travelers, but we also want to reach leisure travelers," Levy says, adding the airport Web site is being updated to make it more user-friendly.
State and local officials agree that what happens - or doesn't happen - in 2004 will determine Tweed's future.
The airport authority was supposed to make Tweed financially self-sufficient by June 30, 2003, according to aldermanic president Perez. "It didn't happen," he says, warning, "We are going to put it out of its misery" if sufficient progress isn't achieved soon.
"We proposed the state take over Tweed, but legislators decided differently," says state Transportation Strategy Board chairman Oz Griebel. "I think ultimately it should be state-run, because then we could use state authority to get things done, like cutting trees on private property, " says Robert W. Santy, president of the Greater New Haven Regional Growth Partnership.
Sikorsky Memorial Airport
Sikorsky officials believe corporate, rather than commercial travel is key to the airport's success.
"The future is business aviation," says operations manager Kurt W. Sendlein.
He envisions a vibrant market for a new generation of ultralight corporate "air taxis" capable of ferrying four to six passengers eager to avoid congestion at major hubs.
To attract new corporate business, and retain current clients, several major hurdles need to be overcome, requiring consensus between officials in Bridgeport, which owns and operates the airport, and those in Stratford, where Sikorsky is situated.
A contentious issue concerns changes to the primary runway to improve safety areas. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been recommending these changes for several years, but officials in both towns have yet to agree on a plan.
Stratford residents and officials vigorously oppose an FAA proposal to reroute Main Street to gain extra space for safety zones and equipment.
"That's off the table," says Stratford Town Manager Michael Feeney. But Feeney adds he is amendable to discussing a current proposal for a 300-foot safety area, which would reduce the runway by 167 feet.
Stratford officials also contend that rerouting Main Street would lengthen police and fire response times.
"We are concerned about public safety," Feeney says. Reducing the runway length, however, could put a serious dent in airport and Stratford revenues.
Sendlein says all the current corporate clients, including Sikorsky Aircraft (Stratford's biggest taxpayer), General Electric, Hubbell Inc., Private Air Inc. and United Technologies, have sent letters to Stratford and Bridgeport officials indicating a shortened runway would likely lead to decisions to move elsewhere.
"They have said they will leave," says former airport manager Morgan Kaolian, who runs an aerial photography and leisure flying business from Sikorsky.
"Corporations generate a significant percentage of our revenue," Sendlein says.
Unlike Tweed-New Haven Airport, Sikorsky receives no state operating funds, and has an operating budget of around $980,000 for fiscal 2003. The airport generates $800,000 a year in landing fees, gas sales and other revenues.
Bridgeport Mayor John Fabrizi plans to meet shortly with Feeney to discuss "jogging Main Street," and says he will try to resolve differences on runway safety alternatives.
"I'd like to get it done within the next six months," Fabrizi says. He'd also like "to see a business service with daily runs to Washington or Baltimore or Philadelphia."
Sendlein sees growth potential in building more airport hangars, but doubts the demand will materialize if the runway is shortened.
Kaolian has an alternate plan to increase the length of the secondary runway, but acknowledges it has a major drawback, putting planes squarely in the path of a huge United Illuminating Co. smokestack.
Kaolian recalls the boom times of the 1980s, when nearly half a dozen commercial carriers used Sikorsky, including Henson Airways, Business Express, Piedmont Airlines and Air Wisconsin, which transported travelers to Chicago.
Commercial flights ended in 1999, when US Airways discontinued service to Baltimore and Philadelphia.
The FAA also is advocating removal of a blast fence separating the runway from Main Street. Eight people were killed in 1994, when a Piper Navajo on a flight from Atlantic City crashed into the ten-foot-high metal fence, and two others narrowly escaped injury in 2001, when their private plane partially ran into the fence.
"We need to move Main Street so a plane doesn't hit a school bus or car full of children," said Sendlein, who helped extinguish the fire on the Piper crash.
Sendlein is hoping town officials will soon overcome the impasse and reach a compromise. Both towns would benefit, he notes, with Stratford gaining additional tax revenues and Bridgeport gaining additional lease revenue for land.
"Aviation has its hills and valleys," Kaolin says. "Right now we're at the bottom of the valley, but we'll go up again."
Sendlein already has noticed upward momentum.
"We're getting a fair amount of business from Westchester [County airport], which is full and expensive," he says, adding Sikorsky hangar rents are cheaper. "Also, the number of used aircraft for sale is declining. And as planes are getting bought up, we're seeing an increase in charter service and private air business."
Bradley International Airport
Connecticut's biggest airport is getting busier as more travelers return to the skies.
Nearly 20 airlines now fly out of Bradley, with direct non-stop flights to 41 destinations, and negotiations with others are in the works, according to airport administrator Stephen Korta.
"We've definitely had a rebound since 9/11," Korta says, adding that enplanements, which peaked at 7.2 million in 2000, reached 6.5 million last year.
Current carriers include Delta Airlines, American Airlines, Air Canada, United Airlines, Continental Airlines and Southwest Airlines.
"We are expecting Pan Am will start a 727 service by early March to Myrtle Beach, S.C. and Orlando, Fla.'s Sanford Airport," Korta says, adding two other airlines are considering flights from Bradley to Puerto Rico.
The airport's most popular destination is Florida, and retirees, their families and cruise enthusiasts comprise its biggest market.
Korta credits Southwest Airlines, which has served Bradley since 1999, with spurring competition by offering lower rates. "We call it the 'Southwest effect,' and it has been a great incentive for people in Fairfield County, or even Westchester County, to come here because of the pricing."
Korta points out other airport attributes drawing customers and carriers. "The airport is built in a linear design, which means walking distances are among the shortest in the entire Northeast. And, except for holidays, our security checkpoints take between one and a half minutes and four and a half minutes [per passenger]."
A $200 million terminal improvement project has been underway at Bradley since 2000, aimed at centralizing services and augmenting retail space.
A new international terminal opened in late 2002, and a new 12-gate East Concourse featuring floor-to-ceiling windows was unveiled last April.
Additional renovations will include installation of machines for screening all baggage and construction of a retail stores and a restaurant.
Korta says Bradley is attractive to airlines because of its ability to remain open in bad weather and runways that can accommodate most aircraft.
"Clearly Bradley, with its new terminals, parking facilities, length of runways and the fact that Southwest has designated it as one of its regional airports, has made a huge contribution to our region," says Oz Griebel of the state Transportation Strategy Board.
The state owns and operates Bradley, but the airport receives no state or federal money for operating expenses, which come from airline fees, parking fees and other tariffs. Capital projects are funded by federal aviation funds and airport bonds issued through the state.
Bradley also serves more than a dozen corporations, including United Technology Corp., Cigna and Mass Mutual Insurance Co.
There currently are no scheduled international flights outside North America.
"We were on the cusp of a major U.S. airline flying to Europe but it didn't work out," Korta says. "But we do have a healthy charter market to the Caribbean and beyond from November to April.
The new international terminal handles those flights as well as international cargo traffic and corporate aircraft flying in and out of the U.S.
"We are looking to expand international service," says Korta.
The airport does have a few other limitations.
"Even at Bradley, there's a never-ending discussion of noise abatement and frequency of traffic," says Griebel.
"Bradley is doing great, but there's not a lot of extra space to grow on," adds Thomas C. Palmshaw, author of the book Bradley Field: The First 25 Years. Airport officials recently completed a four-year noise study, which the FAA is reviewing and may result in federal money for improvement projects, particularly in East Granby.
Back to the Future
Major airlines, fighting to gain back market share from smaller rivals by slashing prices and offering promotions, may soon be adopting a strategy that harkens back to the earliest days of aviation.
Instead of relying on hub and spokes, they might begin following the lead of Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways, which are targeting key business routes with low fare flights in smaller regional jets.
"Most airlines are losing money," says Thomas C. Palmshaw, author of Bradley Field: The First 25 Years and quality-control inspector for Bombardier Aerospace, which manufactures 50- to 80-seat corporate jets.
"You can fly more passengers more cheaply in a larger plane, but you have to fill that plane," Palmshaw says.
But nowadays, more airline passengers are shunning crowded spokes and flying no-frills "point-to-point" routes on smaller aircraft.
"It's kind of fascinating," Palmshaw says. "When the airline industry started out, that's exactly what they did."
Tweed-New Haven airport officials are trying to capitalize on the trend. "Smaller, swifter, cleaner, less noisy, planes are being developed every day," says airport authority chairman Lawrence J. DeNardis. "That's what we're going to have for Delta's service to Cincinnati - 50- to 60-passenger planes.
"The airline industry has not made a significant investment in regional jets," DeNardis says. But they know that major airports are clogged, so perhaps flying from smaller airport to smaller airport may be the wave of the future."
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