Bradley prepping for surge

Bradley International Airport is bracing for a spring-break crush, with more than 139,000 passengers expected between April 8 and April 19. (ctairports.org) The Connecticut Airport Authority said the heaviest traffic at the Windsor Locks airport usually hits between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m., then again in the mid-to-late afternoon. Travelers are being told to arrive at least 90 minutes before departure. (nbcconnecticut.com) Airport officials also warned that on-site parking may be at or near capacity during the rush and pointed travelers to overflow and off-site options on Schoephoester Road and Routes 20 and 75. (nbcconnecticut.com) This is the first spring-break travel period since Bradley finished its latest round of terminal upgrades. Michael W. Shea, chief executive of the Connecticut Airport Authority, said passengers will be using “recently completed terminal enhancements” aimed at making departures and arrivals easier. (fox61.com) Those upgrades followed the January opening of a new concourse with three additional gates, the final piece of a terminal expansion that had been underway since March 2023. The Connecticut Airport Authority said the project added modern customer-service amenities as Bradley prepared for more airline growth. (bradleyairport.com) The airport is handling the holiday rush with a broader route map than it had a year ago. Bradley now advertises 43 nonstop destinations on nine airlines from Hartford. (bradleyairport.com) Last spring, Bradley projected more than 121,000 departing passengers for its April vacation stretch from April 9 through April 20, 2025. This year’s forecast is higher and covers a similar school-break window. (metrohartford.com) Passengers are also moving through security in the first full spring-break season after new federal identification rules took effect. The Transportation Security Administration said in December that, starting February 1, 2026, travelers without acceptable identification could be routed into a paid identity-verification process at checkpoints. (tsa.gov) For Bradley, the next week is less about one storm or one outage than simple volume: more people, more bags, and tighter queues at check-in, parking lots, and security before April 19. (courant.com)