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Bradley International Airport is a public airport located 3 miles (5 km) west of Windsor Locks, in Hartford County, Connecticut. Located north of Hartford, Connecticut and just south of Springfield, Massachusetts, it is Connecticut's busiest commercial airport. A total of 7,381,372 passengers traveled through the Bradley International Airport in 2005, up 9.63 percent from 2004.

History

Bradley has its origins in the 1940 acquisition of 1700 acres (7 km²) of land in Windsor Locks by the State of Connecticut. In 1941, this land was turned over to the U. S. Army, as the country began its preparations for the impending war.

Less than a year after the Army assumed control, the field at Windsor Locks had its first fatality. Among those assigned to duty in Windsor Locks was the young Lt. Eugene M. Bradley of Antler, OK. While participating in a training drill, Lt. Bradley's P-40 crashed on August 21, 1941. Following a funeral at Talarski Funeral Home in Hartford, Lt. Bradley's remains were interred in the national cemetery in San Antonio, Texas. The people of Connecticut did not forget the sacrifice of Lt. Bradley. There was a groundswell of sentiment in favor of naming the airfield in Windsor Locks in honor of the courageous airman. For bravery that led to the ultimate sacrificed, the airfield was renamed Army Air Base, Bradley Field, CT on January 20, 1942.

Following the close of World War II, the airfield was returned to the State of Connecticut in 1946. The land was formally deeded to the State of Connecticut for public and commercial use in 1948.

As it returned to civilian use, the airfield in Windsor Locks became known as Bradley International Airport. With the arrival of Eastern Air Lines Flight 624 in 1947, civilian air travel at the airport commenced. International shipping operations at the airport began during the same year. It eventually came to replace the older, smaller Hartford-Brainard Airport as Hartford's primary airport. In 1971, the International Arrivals building opened, followed by the installation of instrument landing systems on two of the runways in 1977.

In 1979, a tornado ripped through Windsor Locks, wreaking destruction along the eastern portions of the airport. The New England Air Museum sustained some of the worst damage. It reopened to acclaim in 1982.

In 2001 construction commenced on a new parking structure to hold cars. When it was completed, it initially could not be used; the intervening attacks of 9/11 had lead to a regulation that would have required it to be set back further from the airport. Bradley eventually received a waiver for it from the Department of Homeland Security.

2001 also saw the commencement of the Terminal Improvement Project- an ambitious project to add a new terminal and gates to the airport and centralize passenger screening. The new terminal opened in 2003. The terminal was built by The Tomasso Group, which was later found to have provided free contracting to Gov. John G. Rowland in return for a number of no-bid state contracts. The terminal improvement was part of a larger project to enhance the reputation of the City of Hartford as a destination for business and vacation travel.

2005 saw a new direct flight from BDL to Los Angeles LAX, operated by Song Airlines which was owned by Delta Air Lines. The new flight was the first flight from BDL to the west coast since cutbacks after the 9/11 attacks. Delta later increased westbound service out of the airport, with flights to Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. As of this fall however, Delta will be cutting back traffic at BDL by cancelling its flights to Salt Lake City and Fort Myers. The largest aircraft will be a Boeing 737 as opposed to a Boeing 757 as seen in the past.

In the next year or so, Northwest Airlines will begin the international flight to Amsterdam (AMS). These flights will be operated with Northwest's Boeing 757-200 aircraft. These aircraft will be retrofitted with winglets. The specifics of the flights are not yet known.

Airlines and destinations

Terminal A

Terminal B

  • Air Canada Gate B1
  • American Airlines Gates B5-B7, B7A, B8-B10 (Chicago-O'Hare Sept. 5, 2006, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami, San Juan)
  • Midwest Airlines Gate B7A
  • USA 3000 Airlines Gate B3 (Cancun, Punta Cana)

    Cargo Operations


    Military Operations

    • Air National Guard
      • 103rd "Flying Yankees"
        • Operate Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt Aircraft
        • Many other military transports are commonly seen including: KC-135 Stratotanker, C-17 Globemaster, and C-130 Hercules

    International Arrivals Building

    In December 2002, a new International Arrivals Building opened to the west of Terminal B. This new International Arrivals building houses the Federal Inspection Station and has one jetway for deboarding the aircraft. The IAB replaced the old FIS in Terminal B and will be enlarged as volume demands.

    General Aviation Terminal

    There are two General Aviation terminals which are used to accommodate the arrival, departure and refueling of non-scheduled, privately owned and/or charter aircraft. Both of these terminals are privately owned and operated and as a result they are not open to the public in the sense that one cannot randomly walk in and loiter. They welcome all aviation enthusiasts who have come to learn about planes or to spot. One will often find "regulars" who started by coming in once to ask a question, etc., but then continued coming in. These people, however, are indeed the public, thus in reality, the fact is that it is not state owned.

    • TAC Air - Building 85-205 (Executive Terminal)
    • Signature Flight Support - on BDL property but physical address is 100 Signature Way East Granby, Connecticut 06026

    External links

    Airports in Connecticut

    Bradley International Airport

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Bradley International Airport".

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