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Community Corner

The World and Our Region Are
 Talking Airports

Bradley International Airport represented in Memphis "Global Airport Cities" event, 
fosters local discussions.


There have been a handful of local events recently that continue the conversation about Bradley, its impact on the regional economy,  and logistics in general; The Connecticut Legislature, Coalition of New England for Trade (CONECT), The Connecticut International Trade Association (CITA), and a combined event held by New England’s Knowledge Corridor, The Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts & Associated Industries of Massachusetts have all focused on the critical part transportation infrastructure plays in growing an economy.

A group of representatives including Douglas Fisher from Northeast Utilities, Sandra Johnson from The MetroHartford Alliance, and Dan Carstens from The Airport News and Board member of The Bradley Development League also attended the Airport Cities World Conference & Exhibition. That event welcomed over 600 airport delegates from literally around the world to discuss and educate on the critical part played by airports in the world economy.

As stated in US Congressman Steve Cohen’s (TN-9) welcome to the April event, “Cities used to think the road to Economic Development started with...a road. Now cities around the world realize the road to economic development starts with a runway”. He had the full agreement of the crowd in attendance in Memphis, Tennessee.

Memphis is in Congressman Cohen’s District and is home to FedEx, the area’s largest employer in a region that covers three States. It has grown from an ambitious idea to the major contributor to Memphis Airport’s almost 8 billion dollars in annual earnings. FedEx Chairman, CEO, and Founder Fred Smith spoke to the importance of a community working with his company to get the fledgling idea off the ground in the early 1970’s, after Little Rock passed on the opportunity.

But as evidenced over the three days, airports have become much more than points of entry for people and goods. The focus of the entire event is the concept of airports as the nucleus of a wide array of economic activity. A major theory of this type of development is referred to as an “Aerotropolis”, and is not only the title to a new book but also the subject of two Bills introduced by Congressman Cohen. Like the recently enacted Bradley Airport Development Zone, the bills recognized the key part that airports play in attracting business.

As the host city, Memphis displayed the various businesses that locate near Memphis-Shelby County Airport (MEM), and its President & CEO Larry Cox explained his airport’s model in growing even more, using a “pure residual cost model” that utilizes “four focus groups to improve the airport; Gateways and Beautification, Transit and Access, Marketing and Branding, and finally Economic Development”. This is accomplished through an independent 7 member board, each serving 7 year terms and charged with overseeing contracts, hiring, and oversight of the CEO.

Again, some similar efforts are underway at Bradley, with the recent creation of the airport authority in the Connecticut Legislature which changes the governance of the airport.

In Memphis, a three bus tour of one of Medtronics’ facilities, located specifically adjacent to MEM to provide last minute delivery of medical equipment to surgical teams, gave a glimpse into the potential for high end, high value businesses that rely on air transportation for their products and workers.

A larger example of this is located in Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, also at the event, and its office industrial complex located on airport and connected to its passenger terminals.

One point made throughout the three days was interconnectivity, especially via passenger rail to the airport itself. It was made by airports worldwide, from the aforementioned Schiphol, to Denver International, who will have “city rail every 15 minutes to downtown…by 2015” according to their CEO Kim Day.

Dallas is adding 3 additional light rail stations, and other airports from Dubai to Delhi all touted the ease of moving passengers and workers to their complexes via rail. As it relates to plans for Bradley and Connectciut’s rail efforts, this point was also brought up during a press conference with Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy while he was in Washington visiting the President and Transportation Secretary LaHood, “It is being looked at” according to the governor.


This article originally appeared in the latest edition of  The Airport News. Dan Carstens is the publisher of The Airport News.

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