20th century Bradley has its origins in the 1940 acquisition of of land in Windsor Locks by the
state of
Connecticut. In 1941, this land was turned over to the
U.S. Army, as the country began its preparations for the impending war. The airfield was named after 24-year-old Lt. Eugene M. Bradley of
Antlers, Oklahoma, assigned to the
64th Pursuit Squadron, who died when his
P-40 crashed during a
dogfight training drill on August 21, 1941. The airfield began civil use in 1947 as Bradley International Airport. Its first commercial flight was
Eastern Air Lines Flight 624. International cargo operations at the airport also began that year.
American Airlines and
United Airlines switched their service from the
Hartford-Brainard Airport to Bradley by 1948 while
Northeast Airlines began new service. American had also served Springfield through the
Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport but discontinued service there by 1950.
Mohawk Airlines began serving the Westfield-Barnes Airport in 1953 and moved to Bradley in 1959. Bradley then became the primary airport for the Hartford/Springfield area. The eventual build-out of
Interstate 91 provided fast access from the airport to the downtowns of both cities.
TWA began new service to the Hartford/Springfield area through the Bradley International Airport in 1957 and
Allegheny Airlines arrived by 1961. The April 1957
OAG shows 39 weekday departures: 14 American, 14 Eastern, 9 United, and 2 Northeast. The first jets were United 720s to Cleveland in early 1961. Nonstops never reached west of Chicago or south of Washington until Eastern and Northeast began nonstops to Miami in 1967; nonstops to Los Angeles and Atlanta started in 1968. In 1960, Bradley handled 500,238 passengers. It cost US$4.5 million to construct and was anticipated to cost $250,000 annually to operate. Due to the high operating cost and the fact that the parking lot it was connected to was not being used, the system was never put in service and was dismantled in 1984 to make room for a new terminal building. The retired vehicles from the system are now on display at the
Connecticut Trolley Museum in
East Windsor, Connecticut. In 1979, the
Windsor Locks tornado ripped through the eastern portions of the airport. The
New England Air Museum sustained some of the worst damage. It reopened in 1981. The new Terminal A and Bradley
Sheraton Hotel were completed in 1986. The Roncari cargo terminal was also built about this time. Two government agencies support the facility;
U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the
U.S. Department of Agriculture. The FIS Terminal can process more than 300 passengers per hour from aircraft as large as a
Boeing 747. This facility cost approximately $7.7 million, which included the building and site work, funded through the Bradley Improvement Fund. All international arrivals except for those from airports with
customs preclearance are processed through the IAB. International departures are handled from the existing terminal complex. In July 2007,
Northwest Airlines launched a route to
Amsterdam, Hartford's first direct flight to Europe. Three months later, the
Airbus A380 visited Bradley on its world tour, stopping in Hartford to showcase the aircraft to Connecticut workers for
Pratt & Whitney and
Hamilton Sundstrand, both divisions of
United Technologies, which helped build the
GP7000 TurboFan engines, which is an option to power the aircraft. Bradley Airport is one of only 68 airports worldwide large enough to accommodate the A380. No carriers provide regular A380 service to Bradley, but the airport occasionally is a diversion airfield for JFK-bound A380s. Northwest Airlines terminated its service to Amsterdam in October 2008 because of the increased cost of jet fuel. In the same month,
Embraer, an aerospace company based in Brazil, selected Bradley as its service center for the Northeastern United States. An $11 million project was begun with support from teams of the
Connecticut Department of Transportation and Connecticut's Economic and Community Development. The center is intended to be a full maintenance and repair facility for its line of
business jets and is expected to employ up to 60 aircraft technicians. The facility was temporarily closed ten months after opening due to economic conditions, reopening on February 28, 2011. On October 21, 2015, Bradley announced renewed transatlantic service, partnering with
Aer Lingus to bring daily flights between Bradley and
Dublin. Service to Dublin began on September 28, 2016. On September 13, 2018, Governor Dannel P. Malloy announced that Aer Lingus service at Bradley International Airport will continue for at least four more years under a new agreement made with the state, committing the airline to continue its transatlantic service at the airport through September 2022. Aer Lingus committed to placing one of its first four
A321LR aircraft on the Bradley to Dublin route, replacing the
Boeing 757-200 assigned to the route. The route was suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but service resumed on March 26, 2023. On February 17, 2022,
Breeze Airways announced they would be establishing an operating base at Bradley International Airport. The announcement included the airline would begin service to an additional eight nonstop destinations from Bradley and create more than 200 new jobs. On March 8, 2022, they announced service to six new destinations,
Akron/Canton,
Jacksonville,
Nashville,
Richmond,
Sarasota/Bradenton and
Savannah all beginning in June 2022. On July 13, 2022, the $210 million Ground Transportation Center opened, hosting a consolidated rental car facility and 830 additional general-purpose parking spaces. On June 30, 2022, a $210 million ground transportation center was opened after construction through the COVID-19 pandemic. The center moved rental car outlets onto the airport itself, eliminating the need for a shuttle service. The center also added 850 more covered parking spaces. With the opening of the facility, airport officials expressed the desire for a direct rail connection to the airport. On July 24, 2024,
Avelo Airlines announced that they would open a hub at the airport featuring 18 destinations. The hub was short lived, however, as by February 2025 all domestic operations had been terminated, with only three international routes remaining. In October 2025, Avelo announced that they would be pulling out of the airport entirely.
Future On July 3, 2012, the Connecticut Department of Transportation released an Environmental Assessment and Environmental Impact Evaluation, detailing a proposal to replace the now-vacant Terminal B with updates and facilities intended to improve access and ease of use for Bradley travelers. The replacement proposal called for: • Demolition of the Murphy Terminal and existing International Arrivals Building; • Construction of a new Terminal B, with two concourses containing a total of 19 gates, two of which could accommodate international widebody aircraft; • Inclusion of a new Federal Inspection Services facility within the new Terminal; • Construction of a new Central Utility Plant; • Relocation of the Terminal B arrival roadway and departure viaduct; • Realignment of Schoephoester Road; and • Construction of a new 7-level parking garage and consolidated car rental facility, adding 2,600 public parking spaces and 2,250 rental car spaces. The proposal also calls for a three-phase construction program: • Demolition of the existing Terminal B, realignment of surface roads and construction of the new garage/rental car facility would occur during the initial phase. The initial phase is estimated to cost between $630 million and $650 million. • Construction of part of Terminal B and its upper roadway would occur in a second phase. The original estimated completion date was 2018. • Construction of the final segment of Terminal B and its upper roadway would occur in a third phase. The original estimated completion date was 2028. Actual completion dates depend upon funding and demand. , the project had not left the planning stage. == Facilities ==