Bradley Airport ranks among top 10 in USA Today contest
WINDSOR LOCKS — Bradley International Airport ranks No. 7 in the latest edition of a USA Today contest recognizing the country’s best small airports.
Windsor Locks-based Bradley was one of 10 small airports selected in USA Today’s 2021 10Best Readers’ Choice travel contest. Among other honorees, T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, R.I, ranked third and Islip, N.Y’s Long Island MacArthur Airport came in fourth. Myrtle Beach International Airport in South Carolina took the No. 1 spot.
“We are thrilled to be recognized by our passengers and industry experts as being among the best of the best,” Kevin Dillon, executive director of the Connecticut Airport Authority, which owns and operates Bradley International, said in a statement. “I believe this speaks volumes of our entire airport community’s commitment to our passengers and providing an exceptional customer experience even amidst some of the most challenging times in our industry.”
Those 10 airports each serve fewer than 10 million passengers annually, “yet excel with their commercial flight offerings, easy access and amenities,” according to the contest’s website. Bradley “remains a convenient option with on-site parking, lots of charging stations, free WiFi and proximity to both New York and Boston,” the website also said.
A panel of experts teamed with 10Best editors to pick the initial nominees, followed by four weeks of public voting nationwide. Full contest results are available at www.10best.com.
The USA Today recommendation is Bradley’s second national recognition in the past year. It also ranked as a top-10 airport in the 2020 Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice survey.
Such accolades will help to cement Bradley’s reputation as it continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic.
A total of about 2.3 million travelers passed through Bradley in the first 11 months of 2020, down 64 percent from the same period in 2019.
Activity picked up during the holidays, but still significantly lagged the previous year’s turnout. From Dec. 18 to Jan. 3, about 64,000 passengers were screened at Bradley, down 63 percent from the 2019 holiday season.
Diminished passenger levels have inevitably led to greatly reduced airline service. At times in the past year, Bradley’s daily flight volume has plunged more than 50 percent from levels before the pandemic, according to CAA officials.
Bradley officials have sought to allay passengers’ concerns about traveling by implementing a number of health-and-safety measures, including on-site COVID-19 testing.
The airport has recently received health accreditation from Airports Council International World for its safety program, which assesses the airport’s COVID-19 response compared with other airports and industry standards, according to CAA officials.