The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
In Lamont’s plan, it’s Tweed vs. Sikorsky
Connecticut has messed around for years with the idea that the state needs a serious commercial airport on Long Island Sound.
Tweed New Haven and Sikorsky Memorial both have powerful backers and detractors, but we’ve seen no real progress, though Tweed is much further along.
Now the logjam might end with a staterun competition that will be part of Gov. Ned Lamont’s 10year, $18 billion transportation plan, set to roll out sometime in the next two weeks.
Yes, travel fans, watchers of economic development, there will be a winner. And a loser. One and only one of these two historic locations, 20 miles apart as the jet flies, will secure the state’s blessing to back up Bradley International as Connecticut’s No. 2 airport.
The hope underlying the contest: An expanded Tweed or Sikorsky would bring in 15 or more flights a day from established airlines to places such as Chicago, BaltimoreWashington, Washington National, Miami, Charlotte and maybe even DallasFort Worth.
It’s not a slam dunk choice. Tweed and Sikorsky both face tall hurdles before they can expand further. At the moment, Tweed hosts three flights a day on American Eagle to Philadelphia on smaller, regional jets; Sikorsky, with shorter runways, last saw commercial service in the early 2000s.
Both locations offer something important — more robust service at the state’s most important city in Tweed; an option for conveniencestarved Fairfield County at Sikorsky.
Neighbors in both places are aghast, of course. I would be, too. But in a state that’s stuck in neutral, a second airport downstate with modern runways and amenities absolutely must be part of the fix.
Lamont sees the urgency and will formally launch a path to a decision by 2021 according to sources familiar with the plan. Whichever city’s airport the state picks would have enhanced rail service from the other city.
“We need an airport here in southcentral Connecticut,” Lamont told an audience at the Bridgeport Regional Business Council Monday, my colleague Jordan Grice reported. “Probably Tweed and Sikorsky are at the top of the list, but it’s absolutely invaluable.”
Probably? If there’s 1,000 available acres someplace else around here, I haven’t heard about it.
“It would be transformative in this part of the state. It would open up economic development,” Lamont said.
And best of all, the Federal Aviation Administration would pay for most of the cost “inside the fence” of the right airport.
Opposition? “It’s almost like 5G and lots of other things … There are always lots of local reasons to be against something like this — traffic or noise — but I need the business community to step up and give us a little backup at the legislature,” Lamont said.
The long runway to a decision reflects Lamont’s understanding that this question stands mired in politics, wetlands, coastal flooding, roadway bottlenecks and competing priorities. His administration hopes to decide collaboratively and based on data, not based on who has the most juice (that’s easy; New Haven does, both for and against Tweed).
Tweed, run by its own authority, straddling the New HavenEast Haven line, and Sikorsky, in Stratford but owned by the city of Bridgeport, are in many ways mirror images of each other. Founded as municipal strips in the early days of aviation, with plenty of history, both places are built on swampland next to the sound, hemmed in by wetlands and neighborhoods, with tooshort runways.
Both sit in metro areas that the major airlines could take or leave. But both have primary “catchment areas” with significant wealth and business activity.
Either airport would be run, ideally, by the Connecticut Airport Authority, which includes Bradley — the better to coordinate airline service.
My view is that getting it done effectively is more important than where it happens. Let’s look quickly here at the arguments for and against both airports.
For Tweed:
* New Haven is the largest or secondlargest metro in the United States that doesn’t have a main airport. Corporations and institutions such as Yale University, Yale New Haven Hospital, Alexion and others must sheepishly tell wouldbe star employees that, yeah, you need to fly through a place called Bradley an hour away, north of, um, Hartford.
* Mayortobe Justin Elicker supports the idea, as outgoing Mayor Toni Harp does, albeit with significant caveats. “Three questions need to be addressed with Tweed,” Elicker told me Monday. “Sealevel rise, community benefits, financial viability.” More on that below.
* Tweed’s longest runway is 5,600 feet with 5,250 feet of “usable” landing space. That’s close to the 6,100 feet that airlines want to see. And Tweed has fairly open space at the end of that runway for expansion.
* Tweed already has active commercial service with the infrastructure to support it.
Against Tweed:
⏩ To get there, passengers need to wend their way through narrow, residential streets. Building a new terminal on the East Haven side is one option, but adds cost.
⏩ Tweed falls in the districts of the two top leaders in the state Senate: Martin Looney, DNew Haven, the president proTem; and Len Fasano, RNorth Haven, the GOP leader. They have a home and a business, respectively, hard by the runways. Both have presented roadblocks to expansion of Tweed.
⏩ Tweed recently won a decision in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, saying a 2009 state law limiting the size of the runway is unenforceable. That puts the Tweed authority at odds with the state. Attorney General William Tong has not decided on an appeal but the case might not matter. No one is expanding without the state’s blessing.
⏩ Larger neighborhoods in the immediate shadow of the airport.
⏩ Not as helpful to customers in lower Fairfield County.
For Sikorsky
⏩ A central downstate location with a catchment area — including New Haven — that has no good instate options for thousands of customers. They’re farther from Bradley and face a trek to either LaGuardia in New York or the limited menu at Westchester County Airport just over the state line.
⏩ A 4lane road connecting directly to I95.
⏩ Full support of Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim. Bridgeport needs some kind of spark, and although the city’s business commu
Both locations offer something important — more robust service at the state’s most important city in Tweed; an option for conveniencestarved Fairfield County at Sikorsky.
nity isn’t robust enough to support even a small commercial airline destination, having one would help matters.
* Three currently active general aviation companies.
Against Sikorsky
⏩ No commercial service in many years.
⏩ Both runways are shorter than 4,700 feet, and there’s no easy path to lengthening them, based on wetlands and adjacent development.
⏩ Location in a town outside the city that owns it could create crossborder zoning fights or other problems.
Elicker’s concerns about finances and, espoecially, sealevel rise probably applies to both places. “Tweed is basically gone in 50 years and I am not aware of any meaningful study that has been done that addresses that,” he said.
That’s a sobering thought with implications far bigger than how you’re getting to Chicago.
Add it all up and there is no clear frontrunner. Sikorsky’s location has more promise if New Haven can see adequate transit to the expanded airport, but Tweed is closer to the physical requirements.
“It’s probably 5050 at this point until we can see what happens,” said Sen. Carlo Leone, DStamford, cochairman of the legislature’s transportation committee.