HARTFORD, Conn., Jan. 30, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Convention industry leaders in Greater Hartford, Conn. have another reason to celebrate! For the first time in its history, Bradley International Airport will offer direct trans-Atlantic flights. This July 1, Northwest Airlines will debut nonstop service between Hartford, Conn.'s Bradley International Airport and Amsterdam, the Netherlands -- timed to enable convenient, single connections from 81 cities in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India through Northwest/KLM's Amsterdam hub.
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"Worldwide convention and meeting planners can add overseas travel accessibility as yet another attraction for booking events in Greater Hartford," explains H. Scott Phelps, President of the Greater Hartford Convention & Visitors Bureau (GHCVB). "Many of the major associations that we focus on have international members who no longer will need to stop in Boston, New York, Detroit or Dallas to get here."
This news comes as the Greater Hartford Convention & Visitors Bureau reports that 2006 was its most successful year ever. With the opening of the Connecticut Convention Center and connecting Hartford Marriott Downtown 18 months ago, and the addition of a wide variety of new hotels throughout the region, the GHCVB now is gearing up for the largest conventions since its establishment 33 years ago. In 2007 alone, the region will welcome the national conventions of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association's (AOPA) and the United Church of Christ, the joint convention of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) and the Muslim American Society (MAS), and the North Atlantic Regional Conference of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
"With its daily connection to Amsterdam Schipol Airport, Bradley has indeed put Connecticut on the international map," says L. Scott Frantz, Chairman of the Bradley International Airport Board of Directors. "We continue to concentrate on improvements both to our facilities and in our route offerings to match the growing demands of the market place. Bradley is less than 13 miles from downtown Hartford, providing easy in and out highway access, convenient parking and a hassle-free airport experience, making it an easy and attractive gateway for both leisure and business travelers."
"Hartford will become Northwest/KLM's 18th gateway to Europe through its Amsterdam hub," says William Van Buskirk, Northwest Airlines Station Manager for Bradley International Airport. "We selected Hartford because of its fantastic catchment area covering western Massachusetts, eastern New York and all of Connecticut. Hartford is strategically placed in the heart of one of the fastest growing regions of the country -- a region that requires a transatlantic connection to keep it vibrant and economically viable."
Northwest/KLM connects more passengers from North America through Amsterdam than any other carrier. Destinations like Paris, Rome, Milan, Stuttgart, Dubai, Nairobi, and Delhi become one-stop connections from Bradley. Currently, Northwest and its Northwest Airlink partners offer up to 10 daily flights from Hartford, including five flights to its WorldGateway at Detroit hub, three flights to its Minneapolis/St. Paul hub, and two flights to Indianapolis.
Northwest's new flights to Hartford from Europe will be operated by a spacious, retrofitted 160-seat Boeing 757-200 aircraft. Northwest is making the customers experience a central part of this service. The World Business Class cabin will be configured with 16 new seats in a two-aisle-two arrangement, and the seat itself will provide five feet (1.5 meters) of personal space. The seat will have many features including a four-way movable headrest, a laptop computer power port, snake reading light, extendable foot rest and lumbar support, among other comforts. World Business Class customers will be provided with a portable in-flight entertainment system with a wide variety of 40 movies, four short-subject videos, 16 music programs, 40 compact discs of music and six games to choose from, all available on-demand, so they can choose and play their entertainment when it fits their needs.
The coach class cabin will be equipped with 144 seats configured in a three-aisle-three arrangement. The "pitch," or distance between rows, is being widened up to four inches, providing additional legroom and comfort. The aircraft are being fitted with "winglets," or extensions of the aircraft wing that improve the fuel efficiency of the 757 and, in doing so, also extend its range.
The Greater Hartford Convention & Visitors Bureau works in partnership with Hartford's businesses, institutions, nonprofit organizations, and surrounding communities to market the entire region as a premier destination for national, regional and statewide conventions. Its membership includes close to 300 businesses and organizations. The Greater Hartford Sports Commission, a division of the GHCVB, focuses its efforts on attracting and serving international, national and regional sporting events. For information about the Greater Hartford Convention & Visitors Bureau and its "Bring It Home to Hartford" campaign, call (860) 728-6789 or visit www.enjoyhartford.com.
Northwest Airlines is the world's fifth-largest airline with hubs at Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, Tokyo and Amsterdam and approximately 1,400 daily departures. Northwest is a member of SkyTeam, an airline alliance that offers customers one of the world's most extensive global networks. Northwest and its travel partners serve more than 900 cities in excess of 160 countries on six continents. For more information about Northwest, media inquiries can be directed to Northwest Media Relations at (612) 726-2331 or to Northwest's Web site at www.nwa.com.
The photo is also available at NewsCom, www.newscom.com, and via AP PhotoExpress.
