When Will Sale of Bridgeport’s Sikorsky Airport to Connecticut Airport Authority Happen?

Oct. 6—BRIDGEPORT — An aide to Mayor Joe Ganim is still aiming to finalize a deal to sell Bridgeport-owned, Stratford-based Sikorsky Memorial Airport to the Connecticut Airport Authority upstate by year's end.

But City Council President Aidee Nieves, whose cooperation in the deal is key, this week sought to lower expectations.

"I don't see this transfer or sale of the airport happening in the next three to four months because it's been really slow," Nieves said during Tuesday's teleconference meeting of the municipal airport commission which she chaired.

In an interview afterward Daniel Roach, a mayoral aide who has been involved in the negotiations, acknowledged the process has taken longer than hoped, but maintained a contract can be reviewed and voted on by the council before the end of December.

"The ball could be rolling as far as a referral to the council within a few weeks," Roach said.

But Nieves Wednesday stuck by her position.

"We haven't heard any terms or anything and we're already in October," she said, adding she believes a majority of the 20-person legislative body — all Democrats like Ganim — will eventually back a sale, but not without asking a lot of questions about the ramifications.

"I'm gonna tell you, it's not gonna be an easy one," Nieves said of the sale's passage.

Though rumored for a while, confirmation that Bridgeport and the CAA were in talks about the latter purchasing or leasing Sikorsky became official last November. The CAA, which is based in Windsor Locks, operates Bradley International and other Connecticut airports.

In May the airport commission, comprised of Bridgeport officials like Nieves and Stratford Mayor Laura Hoydick, voted to authorize the sale pending approval of the final terms by Bridgeport's council. Hoydick was the lone "no" vote and her administration has sought to make a counter-offer for Stratford to buy the facility.

The timing of the final sale is weighing on the airport commission's decision-making when it comes to existing tenants. For example, at Tuesday's meeting, Airport Manager Michelle Muoio recommended members authorize a one-year, $1,000-per-month lease extension for longtime tenant Windsock Inn bar and grill, while the establishment's attorney urged the five years proposed in the current lease.

"Of course they want as long a period of renewal as possible. That is totally understandable. They've been probably one of the longest standing tenants," Muoio told the commission.

But, Muoio said, the CAA preferred one year so that, once that entity owns the airport, its personnel could assess whether there were "aeronautical uses" for the Windsock site. One reason Ganim's administration wants to sell to the CAA is for the authority to improve and expand operations there, including reviving long-defunct commercial passenger service to Sikorsky, which now caters to business, charter and private flights.

Hoydick in response Tuesday suggested a minimum lease of three years if not the maximum of five. She expressed frustration over the lack of information about the proposed sale's timeline.

"How much will the Windsock occupying that space on the airport affect any aeronautics use?" a skeptical Hoydick, a Republican, said.

Another commission member, Bridgeport Finance Director Kenneth Flatto, said the Windsock has "a good history" as a tenant but added, "I personally think three years is too long given the uncertainty of everything." But Nieves agreed with Hoydick and ultimately the group voted unanimously for the three-year lease extension.

"I have not seen a timeline regarding ... the negotiations with the CAA (and) how soon that's gonna happen," Nieves said, adding the extended time will, if necessary, give the Windsock operators "the opportunity to figure out where they're gonna go and what they're gonna do next."

"A year goes by really fast," she said.

CAA's pending purchase has also impacted efforts to grow the small Connecticut Air and Space Center that has been trying to restore the historic Curtiss hangar as its home. The center in 2015 obtained a 99-year lease from Bridgeport and in 2018 was awarded $1 million in state aid to help fund the hangar project.

But, the Ganim administration has not moved forward with finalizing the necessary paperwork for the state to release the $1 million because there are questions about the center's future if and when the CAA becomes its landlord.

Kevin Dillon, executive director of the Windsor Locks-based authority, in a September interview said, "If we're the airport operator, we'd want to make sure it (the air/space center) has a home at the airport. But we'd want the flexibility to be able to work with the museum to relocate the facility if necessary."

A frustrated Mark Corvino, the center's president and manager of the Curtiss hangar restoration, complained to the airport commission Tuesday that he and his colleagues have been left in "limbo."

"We have no idea what's going on here. We're kept in the dark," he said. "There's no end game."

Corvino received sympathy from commission members. Flatto, for example, said a meeting should be held next week between the appropriate city and state officials and Corvino.

"I've seen him working and know how much he cares," Bridgeport City Clerk Lydia Martinez said. "He has put a lot of time and a lot of love into the work he is doing."

Hoydick noted the longer the hangar restoration is delayed the more that price tag is likely to grow.

Muoio told Corvino "I understand your pain" and that the sides' attorneys have all been talking but she had nothing new to report.

"We have to get this cleared up," said Nieves, supporting Flatto's call for Corvino to be included in the talks and adding the CAA should be as well. "By the next (airport commission) meeting I'd like to have some real information. ... We need to hear what their (the CAA's) plan is going to be for the museum."

State Rep. Joe Gresko, D- Stratford, whose district includes Sikorsky, also addressed the group. He said while he understands the city may not be looking to "complicate" negotiations with the CAA, the center has a 99-year lease and benefits the airport.

"Embrace this gem," Gresko urged.

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