The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Crunch time for Ganim to cut Sikorsky Airport deal.
BRIDGEPORT — Talks to return regular passenger service to Sikorsky Memorial Airport have reached a critical stage, with city officials pushing for Federal Aviation Administration approval that would enable a possible airline deal already in the works.
The Ganim administration had hoped to have a final decision from the FAA in June. As of Friday, Mayor Joe Ganim, aide Danny Roach and Airport Manager Michelle Muoio were trying to schedule a makeorbreak meeting next week with FAA representatives in Washington, D.C.
Bridgeport, which owns the Stratfordbased airport, needs federal authorization of repairs, infrastructure and safety upgrades on one of the two runways — 1129 — to accommodate five to eight daily flights in 2021 on aircraft accommodating 100 to 150 passengers.
The Ganim administration has for several months been in talks with an unnamed airline about a public/private partnership to build a new passenger terminal. Sikorsky hosted passenger service years ago, but now only serves corporate and charter clientele, and the old terminal was torn down.
“It’s not just important for Bridgeport, but the region and state,” Ganim said in an interview. “I think it’s a game changer for the ability to increase the desirability of this area for economic development. To be at the airport in 5 minutes, 10 at the most, and get in and out — it’s different than an hourplus with traffic to either New York or (Bradley International) Hartford.”
Reconfiguring
Passenger service, Muoio previously said, could also help Sikorsky operate in the black, rather than with an ongoing deficit. Initially Ganim had sought to sell Sikorsky to Connecticut in part to get it off of Bridgeport’s books.
The state believed the passenger service proposal to be realistic. Last year, in the final weeks of his administration, Gov. Dannel Malloy authorized spending $7 million to help build a 20,000squarefoot terminal, contingent upon an airline matching that amount.
But more than half a year later, the project remains tied up with the FAA, which did not return a request for comment for this story.
The focus of the city’s plan involves shifting 1129, rather than an extension. Bridgeport has proposed relocating 150 feet of the 4,761foot runway closest to Route 113/Main Street in Stratford — which is unusable for landings because of height restrictions near street traffic — to the opposite end of the strip, overlooking wetlands, where there are no height issues.
Runway 1129 is also considered the quieter way for planes to approach and depart without disturbing residents of Stratford’s nearby Lordship neighborhood.
U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, DConn., who has been involved in the city’s talks with the FAA, said the Ganim administration has to be able to satisfy that agency with a credible plan to address safety standards “for the kind of passenger service that is envisioned.”
“The last thing the FAA and an elected official wants to do is bend the rules around issues of safety,” Himes said of his involvement. “It’s not so much applying pressure to the FAA as it is seeing if there’s a workable plan that can result in passenger service in the time table everybody would like to see happen.”
Sense of urgency
Roach admitted talks with the federal government have not moved as quickly as he would prefer.
“We’re not trying to do anything that isn't done in several airports,” Roach said. “All we’re asking for is a fair shake.”
Asked if he worried continued delays in moving forward with the 1129 work would scuttle the pending deal with the unnamed airline, Ganim said, “That is always a concern. I don’t know their business or what drives their decisions. They may see what we see here as a very good opportunity and may want to hang in there.”
Himes said, “The city, I think, is working hard to produce a plan. If we don’t get lucky this time, that plan will be important to the next bite of the apple. Carriers are going to continue to look at Sikorsky as a possible commercial destination.”
Ganim could benefit politically from a deal now, given that he is running for reelection and some of his other big economic proposals — renovation of two downtown theaters and construction of a downtown ice rink and a harborfront casino — are in limbo.
David Faile, president of Friends of Sikorsky, said that regardless of whether passenger service returns, the improvements to 1129 are important for current users. But he has been skeptical of the idea that a passenger airline could turn a profit at Sikorsky.
“I don’t see how the numbers add up,” he said.