"Goals Set For Connecticut Airport"

Friday, May 21, 2004

Goals Set For Airport
Consultant: Bradley Has Potential To Add Flights, Carriers
By PAUL MARKS
The Hartford (CT) Courant


WINDSOR LOCKS -- Bradley International Airport is not likely to repeat the
boom of the late 1990s, when it was one of the nation's fastest-growing
airports, but should work to restore some of the West Coast flights lost
after Sept. 11, 2001, a consultant said Thursday.

Speaking to the airport's board of directors, Dean Hill, president of
Virginia-based Campbell-Hill Aviation Group Inc., said Bradley has potential
to add nonstop flights to Los Angeles and San Francisco. In the past, those
markets have been served for short periods.

Hill, a former Delta Air Lines executive whose firm helps airports persuade
airlines to open new routes, also said establishing regularly scheduled
service to Europe should remain a priority.

He noted that Bradley, the 43rd-ranked U.S. airport in terms of passenger
traffic, already shows signs of reversing the downturn of the past 2½ years.
In April, 6 percent more passengers used Bradley than in April 2003 - the
fourth straight month showing such a rebound.

Hill said Independence Air's decision, announced this week, to begin serving
Bradley in August is an important step. Independence will offer eight daily
departures to Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C. He
predicted that the current average one-way fare of $133 between Bradley and
Dulles would come "way down" after the new carrier starts service.

Independence Air is offering one-way advance reservations at $59, with a
maximum same-day fare of $108.

The consultant, who works under a long-term contract with the state
Department of Transportation, said he hopes to lure AirTran, another budget,
to serve Bradley.

Figures from last year, cited by Hill, show that travelers flying from
Bradley are reaching Los Angeles and San Francisco on connecting flights:
230,810 to the former city and 166,640 to the latter. Presuming that all of
those would seek nonstop reservations would be an error, though, he warned.
Past experience, Hill said, shows that only about a third of travelers from
Bradley to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Denver used nonstop flights when
they were offered. In part, this is because frequent travelers like to earn
and cash in frequent flier miles, he explained.

Having flights to London or another key European hub is a long-sought goal
of Bradley, and Hill said three barriers must be overcome. Foremost, because
Connecticut travelers habitually use New York and Boston airports to fly
abroad, a major airline must be convinced it has something to gain by
instituting nonstop service from Windsor Locks.

Second, Hill said, something must be done to shake people from those travel
habits, so planes leaving Bradley for Europe depart filled - and profitable.
Finally, to bring reverse traffic, more must be done to make Europeans aware
of attractions and business opportunities in southern New England, he said.

In the depressed aviation industry following Sept. 11, Hill said, airlines
are "totally profit-driven" and more sensitive than ever to potential risks.
But he advised the board to think of route development as beneficial
economic development: "If you imagine an airplane as a factory with wings,
that's essentially it. It's every bit as essential to recruit air service as
it is to recruit high-tech, biotech, you name it. It's the same thing."

Hill said his firm recently helped Portland, Ore., win a contract with the
German airline Lufthansa for regular flights to Frankfurt, but that required
a concerted effort "from the governor on down." To assure the airline of
profit, 27 Oregon companies committed to spend a total of $10.8 million a
year supporting such flights, and $1.45 million in airport fees was waived.

Hill said Bradley has 2.6 million people living within an hour's drive of
the airport, compared with only 2 million in Portland, positioning it for a
similar campaign for international flights.


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