A $12 million expansion of much-needed parking could carry the state’s largest commercial airport for five years, easing a looming parking crunch at peak travel periods and accommodate future route expansions, including flights such as a long-sought nonstop to London. Bradley International Airport will increase its parking by 20% by this spring, adding more than 1,500 spaces on what was once the hub of airport car rentals. That would push the number of spaces operated by Bradley from its current 7,900 to nearly 9,500, spread across a garage and surface lots. “During your high travel periods or on holidays or high peak summer travel or spring break, we do start getting close to capacity,” said Michael W. Shea, executive director and chief executive of the Connecticut Airport Authority, which oversees operations at Bradley. “So as we built our ground transportation center, which opened in 2022, which houses all our rental car operations, it really freed up the old rental car sites and made them available for parking.” The project, now well into construction, encompasses 14 acres off Schoephoester Road and is the largest expansion in parking at Bradley in more than a decade. The project also is a sign of the airport’s aspirations to raise its profile among mid-size airports in the region with further route expansion.
$12M project coming to CT airport. Goal includes making room for travelers on new routes
