Exclusive: Connecticut Airport Authority Executive Director Kevin A. Dillon on his agency’s first 10 years

This month marks the tenth anniversary of the launch of the Connecticut Airport Authority, the quasi-public agency that operates Bradley International Airport and five of the state”™s general aviation airports.

In observance of the agency”™s first decade, the Business Journals spoke with Kevin A. Dillon, who has served as the CAA”™s executive director since its launch.

First, congratulations on the tenth anniversary of the CAA. What inspired the agency”™s creation?

It was legislation back in 2011 that created the CAA as a quasi-public agency. At that time, Gov. Malloy and the state legislature felt the aviation assets here in the state were not being maximized ”“ the state-owned airports were being run by the DOT. And that’s not to say that the DOT didn’t have capable people. It was that the DOT was subjected to a lot of onerous policies and procedures as a state agency, so that’s why Gov. Malloy and the legislature felt it would be better to put those assets under a quasi-public agency that could react a little bit more nimbly and a little quicker.

The aviation world is a very dynamic world ”“ things change fast, airlines need answers, developers need quick answers in order to invest in facilities. And that’s what the CAA brings to the table. I was hired as the executive director in June of 2012, shortly after the legislation and the board were put together, and I spent the first year working with the FAA to get the approvals to transfer the airport sponsorship from the State of Connecticut to the Connecticut Airport Authority.

And what is the state of Bradley International Airport today?

With Bradley, we’ve made great advances over the past 10 years. We”™ve had year-over-year passenger growth every year that we’ve been in existence, with the exception of the pandemic from 2020 into 2021. Just prior to the pandemic, we were handling about 7 million passengers per year, and that makes us a good-sized medium-hub airport.

If you look in terms of nonstop destinations, we’ve grown nonstop destinations at Bradley by 30% to 35%. We’re able to bring transcontinental and transatlantic service to the airport, as well, and we’ve made a lot of improvements ”“ the most visible improvement is our Ground Transportation Center, a $210 million project that substantially enhanced how rental cars are obtained. We’ve also undertaken an additional $74 million worth of runway and taxiway improvements and another $87 million with roadway upgrades and realignment.

We are now undertaking two very large projects. One is a checked baggage screening system that we’re going to build ”“ that’s a $151 million project that will allow us to have people check in directly at an airline ticket counter, have their bags checked, and they’re taken away and then they’re processed remotely. Versus today, where people have to check in at the airline ticket counter, then drag their bag over to a TSA screening machine to undergo the security check. We’re also investing another roughly $58 million into the terminal building to enhance passenger circulation throughout the building ”“ that’s also being done with an eye towards enhancing overall capacity of the building, so that we can defer construction of a new major terminal year well into the future. Because if you were to build a new terminal, you’re talking well in excess of a billion-dollar investment.

Bradley Airport is now supporting well over 20,000 jobs here in state. So, when you’re talking about a state the size of Connecticut, that’s a significant economic impact. And I think some of the things that we’ve done as the airport authority have really led to national recognition ”“ last year, the Conde Nast readers”™ poll ranked is as the second-best airport in the U.S., and we were also recognized by USA Today’s Readers”™ Choice Award as the seventh best small airport in the country.

Since the beginning of the summer, there have been a lot of news stories about problems at airports across the country, with flights being canceled and delayed. Have these hiccups impacted Bradley?

I think every airport gets impacted because this is a unified system. So, if New York airports are having a problem or Baltimore’s having a problem, aircrafts rotate through those airports all day long. So, if a flight is delayed getting into New York and then it ultimately goes from New York to Raleigh-Durham and then it makes a flight up from Raleigh-Durham to Bradley, that is going to impact that flight because the aircraft that’s been on that circuit all day long got impacted by that stop it had to make in New York.

But when you look at delays or cancellations that emanate as a result of operations at a given airport, Bradley has one of the best track records here in the country. For example, we’re frequently cited during snow season ”“ our snow removal process allows us to keep the airport open when many other airports may have to close during winter storms.

And how are things at the other airports operated by your agency?

We’ve been very successful, particularly at Waterbury-Oxford Airport. We’ve gotten a lot of private investment made into that airport and we’ve been able to pull quite a bit of traffic from general aviation traffic from New York as a result of some of the investments and developments. We also operate Groton-New London that’s another what’s called Part 139 Airport, meaning we have a certificate there to bring commercial air service passenger to the airport. We are working towards trying to get an airline to start service at Groton-New London Airport.

We also operate Hartford-Brainard Airport, Wyndham Airport and Danielson Airport. When you look at the economic impact of those five general aviation airports, they’re generating about $410 million worth of economic impact here in the state as well.

Groton-New London Airport had commercial service at one time. What type of airlines are you looking for at that facility? And do you think that this would be a viable destination for a commercial carrier?

We’re talking about what I call niche service. We’re looking for a carrier that will connect Groton-New London into the greater aviation system ”“ for example, that could be a flight from New London into Philadelphia, where there would be great access to the American Airlines system out of Philadelphia. For the businesses that are located down in that area, to have a carrier like American or Delta or any number of carriers to start a level of service out of Groton-New London into one of their hubs is really what we’re after.

For a number of years, there were flights from the shoreline to Philadelphia from Tweed New Haven Airport, although that venue now has a wider range of flights courtesy of Avelo Airlines. What is the CAA”™s relationship like with Tweed?

We do not own or operate Tweed ”“ that’s owned by the City of New Haven and operated by the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority. Our only relationship there is that we have regulatory oversight over all of the airports here in Connecticut, whether we own them or not ”“ that’s a responsibility we inherited from the DOT.

There is no direct relationship, so to speak, although it’s something that I do caution folks about quite often because service development needs to be coordinated between Tweet New Haven and Bradley. Because you don’t want Tweed doing something that’s going to impact Bradley’s market and vice versa. The service level development should be coordinated between both airports.

What is the status of CAA’s relation with Sikorsky Memorial Airport, which is located in Stratford but owned by the City of Bridgeport?

We continue to talk to the City of Bridgeport. At one time, we were interested in potentially acquiring the airport, but our due diligence got us to back away from that because of the costs involved in potential environmental cleanup related to the transfer act. But we are still talking about the potential of an operating agreement, meaning the CAA would operate the airport on behalf of the City of Bridgeport.

While we”™re looking back at the first 10 years of the CAA, what is the agency going to be doing for the next 10 years? What do you have anything on your upcoming agenda that you’re able to preview?

We’re going to continue to invest into the infrastructure at Bradley Airport and we’re constantly looking to improve our service. Everything we do there ”“ whether it’s updating our restaurants or bringing an actual new concession ”“ is always done with an eye towards how is this going to benefit the passenger experience at Bradley.

One of the specific things we really want to work on over the next couple of years is enhancing our international network out of Bradley. We’re also going to be working to enhance our long-haul domestic route network, and a primary focus there is to get service into Seattle. But that doesn’t mean we’re not going to focus on what I’ll call the medium haul destinations ”“ to add cities like Austin or Milwaukee. That would do quite a bit to our route network.

The cornerstone of any airport is how healthy is your airline system. Because the more routes you add, the more seats you add ”“ and the more seats you add, the more passengers you can accommodate the more passengers you accommodate and the more revenue you generate. And that’s what allows us to continue to invest into the aviation system here in Connecticut, if we can continue to develop that revenue stream.