Page 6 - BusinessWest August 31, 2020

6 AUGUST 31, 2020 FEATURE BusinessWest
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Plane Speaking
Bradley Grapples with Dramatic Decrease in Business Due to Pandemic
By Joseph Bednar
radley International Airport has a contract with a medical laboratory willing to conduct COVID-19 testing for arriving passengers.
Kevin Dillon, executive director of the Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA), which manages the airport in Windsor Locks, Conn., thinks that would be an ideal
way for healthy travelers to avoid a mandatory 14-day quarantine instituted by Gov. Ned Lamont in July.
But state leaders turned that option down.
“We have a lab that’s willing to start testing here, yet we can’t convince the Department of Public Health to allow that to occur. It makes no sense,” Dillon said. “Because what’s impacting us now is the travel advisory that’s been put in place here in Connecticut.”
According to the policy, both tourists visiting from other states and Connecticut residents returning from vacations in COVID-infest- ed areas are required to fill out a travel advisory form and indicate where they will self-quarantine. Failure to do so incurs a $1,000 fine.
“Unfortunately, the airlines are reacting to the travel advisory by pulling flights out of the airport,” Dillon explained. “As you can imag- ine, it’s very, very difficult for someone to take a week vacation and then, when they come back, have to take a two-week quarantine. The same goes for business travel — people aren’t going away for two days when they have to quarantine for 14. That’s had a pretty chilling effect on our level of recovery.”
It’s a recovery — if one can call it that — from the most dramatic loss of business airports across the country have ever experienced, the post-9/11 period included. In April, passenger volume at Bradley was down 98% compared to the same period last year. The airport has recovered some of its volume, but a typical day is still some 70% to 75% below 2019 numbers. And the state of Connecticut is doing the airport no favors with one of the most rigid travelers’ advisories
Travelers at Bradley (and there are fewer of them) will find a number of new protocols, from mandatory face coverings to more frequent cleaning and sanitizing.
in the nation.
“I’m not questioning the medical necessity of a travel advisory —
I’m not qualified to question that, and I take folks at their word that it’s is a necessary thing,” Dillon told BusinessWest. “What we have asked for here is a testing option. If you get a negative COVID test, you should be able to avoid a 14-day quarantine period. Massachu- setts is doing that.”