Why Connecticut’s Bradley International Airport Wants To Launch a Route to London
Jul. 23—This week, Connecticut-based jet-engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney announced several deals at the Farnborough International Airshow in the United Kingdom. Connecticut aviation officials hope one day Pratt-powered airliners will be flying from Connecticut's largest airport to the U.K.
The Connecticut Airport Authority, the quasi-public agency that runs Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, reiterated this week that it is trying to establish a route to London. Service between Bradley and the U.K.'s most populous city would solidify Connecticut's connections with one of its largest trade partners, but CAA officials underscored the challenge of achieving their objective.
"The CAA is continuing to actively pursue nonstop service to London, as well as a number of other major international and domestic destinations," CAA officials said in a written statement.
Last year, Connecticut exported about $1.1 billion in goods to the U.K., with the country ranking as the sixth-largest export destination for the state, according to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Manufacturing is one of the main sources of that trade, as highlighted by the deals announced this week at the Farnborough International Airshow by Connecticut-based companies such as Pratt & Whitney. Those new agreements include British Airways' selection of Pratt's GTF engines to power 33 Airbus A320neo aircraft, with an option for the airline to order another 30 of those planes with GTFs.
"Today marks a pivotal moment and a strong vote of confidence in the GTF engine as the U.K.'s flagship carrier, British Airways, becomes the newest GTF customer," Rick Deurloo, Pratt & Whitney's president of commercial engines, said in a written statement. "As the most fuel-efficient choice for the A320neo aircraft, the GTF engine will help British Airways achieve its international fleet expansion goals and enhance the travel experience for passengers."
It is unclear whether the CAA and British Airways have held any talks about a potential Bradley route to one of London's airports. British Airways is one of the carriers that flies from London's Heathrow Airport to John F. Kennedy, Newark Liberty and Boston Logan airports. Heathrow is about 25 miles northeast of Farnborough.
"In the current economic and geopolitical environment, securing new international routes and other long-haul routes is particularly challenging," CAA officials said in their statement. "We regularly meet with our existing airline partners, as well as airlines not currently operating at BDL, to discuss these opportunities. Until negotiations are concluded, we are unable to share additional information about particular airlines involved."
A message seeking comment from British Airways on whether it is exploring Bradley service was not returned.
In addition to manufacturing, the insurance industry would also generate a significant number of passengers for flights between Bradley and London. In 2022, an InsurTech Corridor was established to help insurers expand in Connecticut or the U.K.
"The impact has been great," said Gene Goddard, chief business investment officer of the MetroHartford Alliance, the U.S. sponsor of the InsurTech Corridor, through its Connecticut Insurance and Financial Services initiative. "The InsurTech Corridor companies are finding the ecosystem that they need to grow in the U.S., here in Hartford and throughout the state."
Among insurers whose operations in Connecticut and the U.K. predate the launch of the InsurTech Corridor is W.R. Berkley. The Greenwich-headquartered Fortune 500 company sold The Scalpel skyscraper in London in 2022, but it has maintained offices there.
A route to London would complement Bradley's other European route. In March 2023, Aer Lingus resumed flights to Dublin, Ireland, after a three-year break that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic.
It has been more difficult for Bradley to maintain service to other international destinations in the past few years. An Air Canada route to Toronto restarted in June 2022, after a break of slightly more than two years, but it later went back on hiatus.
"The CAA continues to be interested in resuming nonstop service to Canada, but there are no immediate plans for its return," CAA officials said in their statement. "Nonstop service between Canada and the United States presents several unique challenges in the current environment."
International service at Bradley has been further curtailed by Avelo Airlines' departure from the airport at the beginning of this year. Avelo had run flights from Bradley to Cancún, Mexico; Montego Bay, Jamaica; and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Spirit Airlines, which left the airport last October and shut down a couple of months ago, had operated a Bradley-Montego Bay route for a few months, before shutting it down in the late spring of 2023 due to low ticket sales.
Meanwhile, domestic service continues to expand at Bradley. United Airlines launched on May 22 a year-round route to Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, while Breeze Airways started on May 29 a seasonal route to Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport.
In the first four months of 2026, about 2 million passengers departed or arrived at Bradley, down 3.5% year over year, according to the most recent CAA data. CAA officials have said that the decrease is largely due to the exit of Avelo and Spirit. Avelo continues to operate in Connecticut through its hub at Tweed New Haven Airport.
"The CAA believes that passenger traffic lost due to contraction in the ultra-low-cost carrier market segment will be recaptured in the future with other airlines increasing their service over time," CAA officials added in their statement. "That being said, all of the airlines are currently operating in a growth-constrained environment given recent economic and geopolitical conditions, and this will be a gradual change."
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