CT Airport Authority Looks To Buy Bridgeport’s Sikorsky Airport

BRIDGEPORT, CT — The Connecticut Airport Authority, which operates Bradley International and five other state-owned airports, is looking to pay up to $10 million to buy Sikorsky Memorial Airport from the City of Bridgeport, according to the Connecticut Post.

The Post reports the CAA board recently approved a “term sheet” outlining the requirements of final negotiations with Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim’s administration. However, CAA Director Kevin Dillon told the Post that if an acquisition agreement can’t be reached, a long-term lease could be revisited.

State Sen. Will Haskell, D-26, said it would be a “huge economic boon” for the state to have commercial air traffic at Sikorsky and would create jobs in the Bridgeport region, according to WTNH News 8.

The CAA’s term sheet requires the CAA to offer employment to all existing airport employees and to retain the name Bridgeport-Sikorsky Memorial Airport, according to the Post.

The airport commission voted in December to change the name of the Igor I. Sikorsky Memorial Airport to the Bridgeport Sikorsky Memorial Airport in a marketing move by the Ganim administration.

Stratford Mayor Laura Hoydick, who has a seat on the commission, opposed the name change and voted no. She said at the time that the name change “diminishes the honor given to Igor Sikorsky in recognition of his legacy which is so important to Stratford and our region.”

State Sen. Kevin Kelly also criticized the name change, calling it “a slap in the face to the memory of Igor Sikorsky and the community of Stratford.”

Read more about the CAA’s attempt to buy the airport at the Connecticut Post here. Read the story at WTNH News 8 here.