Hartford is allegedly the largest metro area on the U.S. East Coast without nonstop passenger air service to Europe. Officials at BDL have been trying to remedy this for years.
According to an article at WSJ.com (subscriber link), it’s finally going to happen:
Northwest said it will begin flights from Detroit to Brussels on May 7 and to Dusseldorf on June 5, initially five times a week but graduating to daily service in mid-June. The carrier also will start a daily nonstop flight on July 1 from Hartford, Conn., to Amsterdam, giving Hartford its only nonstop transatlantic flight.[...]
The U.S. carrier, the nation’s fourth-largest by traffic, said its new flights will be operated with 10 Boeing Co. 757-200 planes already in its fleet. The aircraft are being fitted with “winglets,” vertical structures at the ends of the wings, to improve fuel efficiency and increase range. Northwest, Eagan, Minn., said its 757s will be configured with 16 new seats in a two-by-two layout in the business-class cabin and the 144 coach seats in a three-by-three layout will be spaced for additional legroom.
BDL used to have transatlantic cargo service, but it’s been awhile since I’ve been able to look out the window of my home office to seethose 747’s or DC-10’s headed to or from those lands across the pond. It’s going to be good to have the “International” in BDL’s name seem less of a joke.