Hartford - Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced Wednesday that the six state-owned airports, including Bradley International Airport and Groton-New London Airport, will be under the control of the new Connecticut Airport Authority beginning Jan. 1.

The quasi-public agency will operate, manage and develop the airports, taking over from the state Department of Transportation and Bradley's own board of directors. The agency and its 11-member board can, among other things, set fees and issue bonds backed with revenues from the airports' operations.

The governor led a ceremonial bill signing at Bradley late Wednesday morning to herald the authority's establishment. State legislators were on hand to praise the bill's passage through the General Assembly this spring with unanimous, bipartisan support.

"Bradley Airport is going to be a critical economic driver for jobs in the state of Connecticut," Senate President Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn, said.

Malloy said the authority will better leverage the economic development potential of the state's airports, particularly Bradley, "this gem in the rough." The authority also could undertake improved marketing efforts and make key decisions much quicker, the governor said.

Businesses "are making decisions about where to land their freight or where to provide service to and from, and they're not going to wait around for 60 days or 90 days or six months for those decisions to be made," Malloy said.

He later added: "It is clear that we have missed opportunities in the past because we were not able to move and make commitments rapidly enough, nor did we make timely investments in our infrastructure."

The idea for a statewide airport authority has been around for decades. In the mid-1970s the Hartford-area chamber of commerce led an effort to form an authority to run Bradley, but met resistance from the administration of then-Gov. Ella Grasso, which feared that the members of the proposed authority would have "almost limitless powers."

At Wednesday's event, Malloy said that he knew of only two airports in the country that are still run by a department of a state government.

In addition to Bradley and Groton-New London, the airports under the new authority's wing include Danielson Airport in Killingly, Hartford's Brainard Airport, Waterbury-Oxford Airport and Windham Airport.

The agency's 11-member board will consist of gubernatorial and legislative appointees along with the state's Treasurer, DOT commissioner and the commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development. The governor, who appoints the agency's chairman, said he anticipates making his four appointments soon.

The board positions are unpaid. The members are required to have business and managerial experience, and the appointees must include some aviation experts.

Catherine Young, manager of Groton-New London, said Wednesday that she hasn't heard of any planned changes for the airport once the authority takes control. Groton-New London handled 40,000 "operations" last year, with each takeoff or departure counting as one operation. The airport has been without general commercial service since 2004.

Malloy used no fewer than 14 separate pens on Wednesday to sign his name on the bill for the ceremony. He first signed it into law June 30.

The airport authority will exist as long as it has outstanding bonds or other obligations, and until its existence is "terminated by law." If and when that day happens, all of its properties would pass to the state.

j.reindl@theday.com