Avelo growth spurs off-site parking plan

NEW HAVEN — Tweed New Haven Regional Airport is “in the last stages” of negotiating a short-term, off-site solution to parking capacity issues expected to arise when Avelo Airlines goes from eight to 12 flights a day and adds flights to Chicago, Baltimore-Washington and Raleigh-Durham, N.C. later this month, an official said.

Tweed, which is owned by the city of New Haven and located in both New Haven and East Haven, still has never totally filled its

three parking lots, Tweed New Haven Airport Authority Executive Director Sean Scanlon told the authority this week. But it is moving forward with a short-term solution that it's likely to announce as soon as next week so it will be prepared when the additional flights begin May 26, Scanlon said.

Scanlon, in a subsequent interview, declined to say where the soon-to-be-announced offsite parking lot was, but said “it is close by the airport.

“That's all I'm prepared to say about that,” said Scanlon, also a Democratic state representative for Guilford and Branford and the Democratic Party's endorsee for the state comptroller position in the November election.

“It's a good problem to have, to have grown faster than we expected to grow,” Scanlon said. “While we still have ample capacity,” given Avelo's success so far and growth, “we want to make sure that we can meet the demand.”

East Haven Mayor Joe Carfora, who earlier this spring declined to support Tweed's expansion plans “at this time,” said he was aware of the plans. The location is not in

East Haven, he said.

“I realize that Sean is working hard to solve some of the on-site parking issues that are developing at Tweed due to the success of the Avelo service,” Carfora said. “As a result, I understand that he is working to solidify an off site parking location” and “that location is not in East Haven.”

Scanlon said that while the two most visible lots, located right next to the terminal on either side of the

entrance as people drive in, often are posted as full, a third, less expensive remote lot located around and behind the terminal — and served by a minute-and-a-half shuttle bus ride — has never been full.

The two closer lots sometimes have vehicles parking on the grass when travelers have difficulty finding marked spaces, which has been a flashpoint with airport neighbors.

Scanlon said that as Avelo continues to expand, the additional parking “won't be enough,” however, and said, “We're working on other solutions. ... We need a medium-term solution.

“Part of it will be met by the off-site parking lot,” Scanlon said. “But there also will be a need for us to expand or reconfigure our parking here before we move to East Haven.”

Additional parking will be part of the plan when Tweed eventually applies to build a new 74,00square-foot terminal and entrance off Proto Drive on the East Haven side of the airport as part of a $70 million expansion plan. That would be part of a $100 million total investment that would be paid for by Tweed's contract operator, Goldman Sachs-owned Avports LLC, which in turn would be signed to a 43-year management contract.

The New Haven Board of Alders has approved the contract and a long-term lease with the authority but the contract is still being negotiated.

The expansion plan also includes lengthening Tweed's runway, currently 5,600 feet, to 6,635 feet and building a new terminal where the east end of Tweed's former crosswind runway is now.

Avelo announced March 8 that it will add service to Chicago's Midway

International Airport, Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and Raleigh-Durham Interational Airport on May 26, bringing the total number of destinations from Tweed to 13.

It also announced it will increase the frequency of service between Tweed and Orlando, which recently was named Avelo's third base, along with Tweed and Los Angeles' Hollywood Burbank Airport.

Those additional destinations followed the announcement that Avelo would fly from Tweed to Nashville, Tenn.; Savannah, Ga.Hilton Head, S.C. and Myrtle

Beach, S.C., all of which began May 5. It also flies to six Florida destinations: Orlando, Tampa, Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Sarasota-Bradenton.