Stratford and Bridgeport have had an uneasy time over the existence of the Sikorsky airport. And that relationship goes back a long time, the very first airshow was held here in 1911. The latest battle is to turn the city owned airport into a state owned one. The city of Bridgeport has plans to sell the 800-acre site to the state after 60 years of city ownership.

From the Connecticut Post

“I think the best government agency to run an airport would be the state, not a municipality,” Ricci said last week, pointing to urgent infrastructure needs, including the demolition of an aging airport building that the city simply cannot afford.

The state, he said, could mandate longer runways that would make the facility competitive with Tweed-New Haven Airport, Westchester County Airport in New York and even Oxford Airport, which in recent years has received millions of dollars in state funds to expand and update.

“We could probably use a million-and-a-half dollars right away,” Ricci said from his office overlooking the main, 4,800-foot runway, which 20 years ago hosted daily commercial flights for Delta Connection, Continental Connection and US Airways Express.Westchester, by comparison, has a 7,000-foot runway with plenty of room for commercial flights that ceased in Bridgeport back in 1999.

Stratford mayor James Miron doesn’t like that idea, also from the Connecticut Post:

“Stratford will not benefit by an expansion of the airport, the only people who would benefit are those proposing the expansion of the runway,” he said.

Stratford Mayor James Miron said last week that he would rather buy the airport from the city than watch the state take it over for expansion.

“It’s a low-demand airport,” Miron said. “When you’re in the air, you can see that Stratford and Tweed-New Haven are right next to each other. I can drive there in 20 minutes.”

I’m more interested in knowing how Miron manages to get from Stratford exit 32 to Tweed exit 47. It’s 10 minutes to get across the Q bridge most of the time, impossible on Friday afternoons and at least 10 minutes navigating the side streets in East Haven. Of course, many residents there wouldn’t appreciate the additional traffic.