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Hartford, CT—With the opening of the Connecticut Convention Center and connecting Hartford Marriott Downtown, the Greater Hartford Convention & Visitors Bureau reported that 2006 was its most successful year ever. It will soon be easier for the world business travelers to get to meetings and conventions in Hartfrord. Beginning on July 1, Bradley International Airport will offer direct trans-Atlantic flights for the first time when Northwest Airlines debuts nonstop service between Hartford, Conn.’s Bradley International Airport and Amsterdam—timed to enable convenient, single connections from 81 cities in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India through Northwest/KLM’s Amsterdam hub.

“With  its daily connection to Amsterdam Schipol Airport, Bradley has indeed put  Connecticut on the international map,” said L. Scott Frantz, Chairman of the  Bradley International Airport Board of Directors. “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.” 

Northwest’s  new flights to Hartford from Europe will be operated by a spacious, retrofitted  160-seat Boeing 757-200 aircraft that caters to business travelers. 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 of personal space and include many features, such as a four-way movable headrest, a laptop computer power port,  snake reading light, extendable foot rest and lumbar  support. 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.

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/ KLM connects  more passengers from North America through Amsterdam than any other carrier, and come July, destinations such as Paris, Rome, Milan, Stuttgart, Nairobi, and Delhi  become one stop connections from Bradley. 

“Hartford  will become Northwest/KLM’s 18th gateway to Europe through its  Amsterdam hub,” said William Van Buskirk, Northwest  Airlines Station Manager for Bradley International Airport. “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.”  

“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.  “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.”