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September 10, 2021

Job fair draws hundreds to Tweed ahead of new Florida flights

PHOTOS | Liese Klein Kimberly Maddox, vice president for human resources at Avports, speaks to attendees at a job fair at Tweed New Haven Airport on Sept. 10, 2021.
By Liese Klein

When Tweed Airport Executive Director Sean Scanlon showed up at work this morning at 9:15 a.m., a line was already forming for the airport’s first job fair since announcing a major expansion. 

By the time the job fair started at 10:30 a.m., the parking area was full and the line snaked from the rear rental-car area to the terminal. Organizers had expected 100 people to show up all day but were predicting more than 400 by 2 p.m., judging by the early turnout. 

Airport officials are looking to fill 100 jobs ahead of the start of Florida flights on Nov. 3 by Avelo Airlines, a startup that intends to make New Haven its East Coast hub. The Avelo flights are the first phase of a $100 million expansion of the airport to increase capacity and traffic.

Kimberly Maddox, vice president for human resources at Avports, Tweed’s operator, was thrilled with the turnout. “I'm very happy about this,” she said, looking at the growing line of job-seekers. 

Tweed’s hiring event was unusual for Avports because of the involvement of community groups like New Haven Works, Workforce Alliance, New Haven Building Trades and North Atlantic Council of Carpenters, Maddox said. 

“This is a unique hiring opportunity because of the partnerships. This is an opportunity to reach deep within the community and fill the jobs as locally as we possibly can,” Maddox said. “We wanted to be right here in New Haven and East Haven.” 

Recruiter Kristin Brooks, left, speaks to Sandra Fish about flight attendant jobs at Avelo Airlines.

Many of those in line were from the cities and towns around the airport, including Samra and Hamza Butt of North Haven. Samra has experience working in airline operations with Virgin Atlantic and was looking for a similar opportunity close to home. 

“It’s nearby, that’s really, really important,” Samra Butt said of the appeal of Tweed jobs. Hamza Butt, who worked for UPS for 10 years, is looking for a similar opportunity in the operations side of the airport.

Jerome Daniels of New Haven was applying for a position in maintenance or landscaping after semi-retiring from a career at hospitals and nursing homes. “I want to stay active in a different environment,” he said.  

Inside the job fair tent, applicants crowded around the Avelo Airlines table, where recruiter Kristen Brooks fielded questions about flight attendant schedules and operations opportunities. 

Sandra Fish of New Milford, an experienced flight attendant for private aircraft, said she was eager to apply for the first cohort of Avelo jobs. “I still want to continue to fly and this makes it a stable schedule,” Fish said. “It makes it a lot easier.”

The Tweed expansion plan still awaits approval from the New Haven Board of Alders and faces opposition from some neighbors in New Haven and East Haven. But at Friday’s job fair, Scanlon and New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker both cited the job creation potential of the expansion as a strong argument to forge ahead. 

“People are excited about this because of the flights, but the other important part of this is the jobs,” Scanlon said. “We've been working on this for such a long time — this is really happening.”

Contact Liese Klein at lklein@newhavenbiz.com.

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