Page 9 - BusinessWest August 31, 2020
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 A major renovation of Bradley’s
restrooms, including many touchless features to discourage the spread
of germs, began well before the pandemic.
Based on the allocation formula, Bradley received $28 million, which sounds like a lot of money, he went on, but to put it in perspective, that covers about three months of operating expenses and debt service. And the pandemic-related travel slowdown is now well into its sixth month.
“We are fortunate that, as an airport author- ity, we did create what I consider some healthy reserves, and we will rely on those reserves
to some extent, but it wouldn’t be prudent to exhaust our reserves,” he said, noting that they impact bond ratings, among other things.
Bradley did institute a hiring freeze, not replacing most employees who chose to retire this year, and has cut department budgets by 10% to 20%. The CAA is also looking at further measures, including a voluntary severance
program.
“It is a goal of ours to try to prevent involun-
tary severances,” Dillon said. “We don’t want to get to a place where we’re talking about layoffs. For now, that’s off the table. We tried to make a commitment to the employee base — first and foremost, to protect their health, and second, to protect their paycheck. As you can imagine, it’s a challenge.”
About $20 million in capital projects are on hold as well, but some are moving on, including an airport-wide restroom-renovation project that should be complete by October, and features a largely touchless experience with sinks, soap dis- pensers, hand dryers, and more. These features were planned well in advance of the pandemic, but Dillon said travelers will appreciate them
more now.
“People want a safe, healthy, clean environ-
ment, and we try to deliver that the best we
can,” he noted. “Folks think differently about hygiene in public places now; they have different expectations.”
Other protocols in place at Bradley include the expected: mandatory face coverings, more frequent cleaning and sanitization efforts at high-touchpoint areas, plenty of hand-sanitizer stations, signage detailing physical distancing rules, and plexiglass shields in high-passenger- interaction areas.
Some airlines have committed to limited capacity on planes as well, Dillon said, citing Southwest and Delta as two examples. And the airport is developing touchless kiosks where trav- elers don’t have to interact with an agent or touch the screen to activate the ticketing process.
“The key for us is to keep differentiating our- selves from our larger competitors,” he told Busi- nessWest. “We want people to understand that Bradley is going above and beyond in terms of sanitizing and cleaning the facilities. And Brad- ley might represent a better option because it’s less congested. We’re going to keep highlighting to the traveling public why Bradley is a better alternative.”
View from the Ground
Again, however, all these efforts are blunted by the fact that considerably fewer people are traveling, and Connecticut is making it difficult to do so.
Bradley
Continued on page 42
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FEATURE
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