Name: Kevin Dillon
Title: Executive Director, Connecticut Airport Authority
Age: 61
Experience: 40 years
Kevin Dillon heads the Connecticut Airport Authority, created in 2011 to expand commercial service out of Bradley International Airport and oversee the state’s five general aviation airports. Since then, Bradley has added new concessions and restored its international service in 2016 after an 8-year absence with new flights by Aer Lingus and Norwegian Air. This month, the authority announced that low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines is expanding its existing service with new seasonal service to Fort Myers and Tampa, Florida.
Q: How important is Spirit Airlines’ route expansion?
A: That was a nice get for us. It was a missing piece of our menu. Spirit is an ultra-low-fare carrier, which we did not have. They cater to the economy market and the student population. We have over 200,000 students in our market area. They just started Fort Lauderdale service last week and also announced the Fort Myers and Tampa (routes), which are seasonal.
Q: What’s the goal of your $3.6-million marketing campaign?
A: We are pushing the international service. Norwegian’s route to Edinburgh started this past Saturday night and we had a full flight. It’s been well-received and we’ve been working with the Connecticut Office of Tourism to enhance the international connectivity here. We’re trying to get to Europeans buying 25 percent of the tickets. Our market analysis shows that is a realistic number. We’re not quite at that point, so we need to introduce Connecticut and Bradley to a good portion of Europe.
The success of Aer Lingus is going to rely on business travel. We can fill the plane up in the summer months. We’re 80 percent to 90 percent on those flights. It’s when you get to February you want to ensure regional businesses use this flight not only to Dublin, but connecting to all Europe. We also launched nonstop seasonal service to San Francisco on United. When the Connecticut Airport Authority was formed, our goals were to restore transatlantic and transcontinental routes. We feel by adding Los Angeles last June and San Francisco this June, we’re well on our way.
Q: Is the incentive package you offered Aer Lingus a model to attract more international carriers?
A: Incentives are not really the be-all and end-all of air service development. Usually, incentives are the thing that get you over the finish line. If an airline is looking at multiple airports, then the incentives may come into play, but you must demonstrate you have a sustainable market. Right behind that is demonstrating the costs these airlines have to pay to operate. The cost at Bradley is the lowest of commercial airports in New England. We’re at about $9 per passenger. We represent a good cost structure to the airlines.
Q: Is Jamaica next on the list of international destinations?
A: Jamaica is an interesting location for us. We feel that there would be a good level of tourist traffic, but there is also a large Jamaican population here in Hartford and there’s a lot of family connectivity.
Q: You recently added Two Roads Brewing Co.’s Tap Room to the Bradley concessions roster and advertised for vendors for three more slots. How much room does the airport have to grow concessions beyond that?
A: We have limited space so that will probably max out the available space we have for concessions. If we continue to grow, we can start to expand this building, which would be the first phase of a second terminal. At our Escape Lounge (which opened in October), people can buy a walk-up ticket for $45, or $40 in advance, and get unlimited food and beverages, newspapers and wifi and that’s been extremely well-received, particularly by our international fliers.
Q: Year-to-date passenger counts at Bradley are up roughly 6 percent. Is that attributed to the new routes?
A: Last year we ended with a little over 6 million passengers. When you look at our market area, this could become a 10 million passenger airport. It’s a combination of the Spirit service, Norwegian, the San Francisco route and other airlines upgauging (switching to larger aircraft on existing routes).
Q: Any progress on finding developers to expand the Air Cargo East facility?
A: We continue to operate that facility and we have just about the majority of the building leased. We are still interested in bringing in a private operator to develop the cargo business. We have a couple of irons in the fire I can’t speak about publicly. We’re trying to move that forward with a developer who will work hand-in-hand with us to manage the facility.
Dillon’s Top Five Favorite US Airports:
- Bradley International Airport
- Bradley International Airport
- Bradley International Airport
- Bradley International Airport
- Bradley International Airport
