Amazon move could affect airport’s future
STRATFORD — The announcement that Amazon will open a distribution facility off Lordship Boulevard probably won’t be the decisive turning point when it comes to whether Sikorsky Memorial or Tweed New Haven becomes the state’s No. 2 airport. It can’t hurt, though. The farreaching transportation plan announced Thursday by Gov. Ned Lamont includes “an objective selection process” to decide whether Sikorsky or Tweed will expand into a regional airport offering up to 30 flights a day.
In making its decision to lease about 200,000 square feet at 500 and 600 Lordship Blvd., having Sikorsky nearby wasn’t a major factor for the online retailing juggernaut, according to Mary Dean, the town’s director of economic development.
The Stratford location made the most sense because it’s near major highways, she said.
“The airport was never brought up,” Dean said. “They have (Interstate) 95 right there. They strictly talked about vehicular deliveries.”
Still, economic activity is economic activity, even if cargo planes won’t be bringing fuselages full of Alexaordered products into Lordship every day, state Rep. Phil Young, DStratford said.
If Amazon coming to town brings other associated businesses, it could help Sikorsky position itself better.
“I’m sure that for corporate travel and things like that it might be very good,” Young said.
Both airports have boosters and detractors, and pluses and minuses when it comes to expansion, as Hearst Connecticut Media columnist Dan Haar reported last month. The question “stands mired in politics, wetlands, coastal flooding, roadway bottlenecks and competing priorities.”
And the governor’s office has not spelled out all the specifics of the decisionmaking process yet, state Sen. Kevin Kelly, RStratford, pointed out.
“He doesn’t really go into any detail on the issue of Sikorsky or Tweed,” he said.
“The process to secure an airport must be done carefully and methodically with robust input from residents in the communities near each airport, the business communities in both locations, and the state must obtain as much data and information as possible in order for an informed decision to be made,” the CT 2030 plan says. “This process will be led by the governor’s office with guidance from the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington.”
Messages left with the governor’s office Friday, as well as the airport administrator, were not immediately returned.
The crossborder ownership has led to tensions between the neighboring municipalities in the past.
“The history of the airport with Stratford has not been a good one for the town of Stratford,” Kelly said. “So I think Stratford is going to look at this issue, and look hard at it, but the airport impacts the south end of Stratford, and to date Stratford has had limited control over what goes on at the airport. So we’ve got to see what the governor’s ideas are.”
In a statement, Rowena White, a spokeswoman for the city of Bridgeport, said, “We are excited for our neighbor, the town of Stratford landing an Amazon distribution point and bringing economic development and job creation to our region at large. The news would most likely not have a direct significant impact at the airport, but everything helps.”
Regardless which is eventually chosen, the governor’s plan puts “a stake in the ground saying we need to have a regional airport in south central Connecticut,” Bridgeport Regional Business Council President and CEO Dan Onofrio said.
“I think that’s huge,” he said. “I think that’s significant. You can use that as a selling point when we’re trying to recruit businesses to the area.”
Amazon’s decision can only help, he said.
“Sikorsky is in a good position,” Onofrio said. “I’d like to think that Sikorsky is in a better position from that perspective.”