The City of Bridgeport Airport Commission approved the sale of Bridgeport Sikorsky Airport to the Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA) for $10 million.
According to a statement released by the Bridgeport city government, the sale price was the maximum amount the city could retain from a sale of the airport as established by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The CAA has committed to administering more than $60 million of improvements to the airport, with the goal of restoring commercial service that has not existed at the facility since the 1990s.
“I am very happy that we have come to a vote to sell to the CAA,” said Mayor Joe Ganim. “The city has been working diligently over the past few years to bring back passenger service to the airport and this transfer of ownership is expected to expedite that process.”
“The Connecticut Airport Authority is pleased that the Airport Commission chose to move forward with progressing the CAA”™s acquisition proposal to the City Council,” said Kevin Dillon, executive director and CEO of the CAA. “If we are able to complete this deal, we look forward to working with the City of Bridgeport and Town of Stratford to maximize the potential of the airport and the region”™s economic development.”
The airport, which loses an average of $500,000 per year, is located in Stratford but owned by Bridgeport. Stratford Mayor Laura Hoydick, who expressed interest in acquiring the airport, did not immediately respond to the news of the sale.
Sikorsky”™s air controller tower, still bearing the Bridgeport Municipal Airport name that the facility used from 1937 to 1972. Photo by Phil Hall
Another feckless search for revenue by Bridgeport……Bridgeport has been incompetent in trying to figure out how to use this asset for 50 years for the greater good…only local greed.
A few years back they sold the zoo to the state to raise $ for it fiscal incompetence…….maybe they will try to sell seaside park next….stay tuned……
Absolutely true, Ziggy. The Ganim Administration has led in the deconstruction of Bridgeport. And the state has been just too eager in its complicity, in this regard. Connecticut has been building Stamford for the past 60 years and has basically just been using the other nearby urban centers — especially Bridgeport — for “parts.” Need a jail for Fairfield County — put it in Bridgeport… Need a solid waste recycling center — put in Bridgeport…. Need workforce housing, with all of the associated infrastructure and social-needs expense — put it in Bridgeport… What did you say? Bridgeport needs a serious sum of money from the state for economic development pursuits? Forget about it! Sell a park or an airport — or raise taxes on your captive, residential audience… (But, in the meantime, give $500,000,000 to Hartford to make sure that Gold Coast Boy, Luke Bronin, doesn’t look absolutely ineffectual as mayor…)
So, the blame for the dysfunction and decay of the state’s largest city can be squarely laid at the Governor’s and GA’s doorstep — both of which, for sixty years, have seen fit to appease the Connecticut oligarchy and build Stamford at Bridgeport’s expense, using Bridgeport for “spare parts” while ignoring the oversight and real-assistance needs of the state’s largest city in a deliberate, premeditated manner, all too happy to have complicit, cooperative administrations at the helm in Bridgeport City Hall…
Amen!