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Updated: March 18, 2020

Bradley Airport traffic nosedives as Aer Lingus suspends flights

Photo | Contributed An Aer Lingus jet taxiing at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks.
By Sean Teehan

Passenger traffic at Bradley International Airport is plummeting, as major airlines cancel flights and suspend routes amid the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.

On Wednesday, traffic at Bradley was down about 70% from the same day a year ago as fewer travelers were flying in and out of the airport, said Kevin Dillon, executive director of the quasi-public Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA), which oversees Bradley.

Aer Lingus, which runs flights to Dublin, suspended service on Tuesday until at least April 15, Dillon said. As of Wednesday afternoon, he anticipated Air Canada would similarly suspend service after the Trump administration announced the U.S. border with Canada will close to nonessential personnel. 

"Other airlines have announced varying levels of reduction," Dillon said. "In some cases they're dropping the number of frequencies into particular locations, in other cases the routes have been completely suspended."

For example, United Airlines suspended flights to Houston until further notice, but that could change. Because cancelations are on a case-by-case basis and often changing, Dillon said, passengers should check with airlines to see whether their flight is canceled, or still running.

Dillon hasn't heard from government officials suggesting the airport might close, he said.

Photo | Contributed
CT Airport Authority Executive Director Kevin Dillon.

At the moment, essential staff like maintenance workers, firefighters and operations employees are still working, and administrative staffers are working from home when possible, Dillon said. TSA and airline staff is reduced, Dillon said, but they have ample staff to handle current traffic levels.

Sit-down restaurants at the airport fall under Gov. Ned Lamont's executive order barring in-person service at bars and restaurants, but takeout is still available, Dillon said. CAA is considering requesting a waiver that would allow them to open restaurants, but hasn't yet made that appeal.

Additionally, Bradley has intensified its cleaning regimen for all high-traffic areas of the airport, Dillon said.

Wednesday's numbers are worse than the day before, when TSA screening data showed traffic was down 65% from the same day last year, Dillon said, noting that official numbers from airlines aren't yet available.

The downturn in traffic comes on the heels of a successful 2019 for Bradley, a 12-month period that marked the airport's seventh consecutive year of growth. 

Last year Bradley racked up about 6.8 million enplanements and deplanements, a 1.2% increase over 2018, according to CAA data. The airport in 2019 added new routes including Frontier Airlines’ new flights from Bradley to Denver, Miami and Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina. Aer Lingus saw a 2.5% traffic increase in 2019 over the previous year.

Dillon said he anticipates Bradley will eventually bounce back to a growth trajectory.

"In the long-term, I have every confidence that the level of activity that we're able to generate at Bradley is going to return, and that we will return to a growth mode at some point," Dillon said, noting the industry recovered after 9/11 (although the drops in traffic then weren't as substantial as what he's seeing now). "How long that takes is really a guess at this point."

Gov. Ned Lamont, airing Connecticut’s daily coronavirus response late Wednesday, said an additional 28 residents tested positive for the COVID-19 illness. That increases reported cases in the state to 96.

There are currently more than 7,500 cases in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia, according to CNN Business.

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