Airport won’t fly without FAA OK

BY JAMES CONMY

STAFF WRITER

02/02/2007

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A proposed cargo airport expected to generate a $17 billion boost to the region’s economy and 4,500 jobs will be grounded if the Federal Aviation Administration does not approve the use of airspace over southern Luzerne County.

“The first phase in the journey forward is the FAA airspace approval,” state Rep. Todd Eachus, D-Hazle Township, said Thursday. “Everyone involved in this project knows if we don’t have FAA approval, this journey will end.”

National companies bringing as many as 160,000 new jobs to Carbon, Luzerne and Schuylkill counties to reap the advantages of a nearby airport also are contingent on the federal clearance.

The soon-to-be-created Luzerne County airport authority that will attempt to turn Gladstone Partners’ vision into a $1.6 billion reality will have to meet several standards for federal approval. Any planned airport is subject to the same application, regardless if it accepts cargo, passengers or both, FAA spokesman Jim Peters said.

Specifics like the airport’s elevation, latitude and longitude all must be submitted and approved, Mr. Peters said. The proposed airport may not interfere with existing navigational patterns, he said. The cargo airport’s proximity to other airports would be examined as well.

The most crucial component of the approval process will be the way planes approach and depart from the proposed 13,000-foot runway, Mr. Peters said.

“You need a way to fly in where you can make a stabilized approach,” he said. “You want to have the runway designed for optimum wind conditions to allow you to land and take off safely.”

The proposed airport should pass any FAA test, said former Hazleton Mayor Mike Marsicano, one of the three principals in Gladstone Partners and a retired Continental Airlines pilot. A 13,000-foot runway will allow planes to take off in optimal wind conditions, he said.

It will be months before proponents learn if the project has airspace approval, Mr. Peters said. The speed of approval depends on the FAA’s resources and workload.

If airspace approval is obtained, another process to secure tens of millions of dollars in state funding will begin, Mr. Eachus said.

State officials are “keenly aware” of the cargo airport and the economic impact it could have for a sizable portion of the state, he said. Concrete numbers and formal funding requests cannot take shape without FAA’s initial approval, he said.

State agencies such as the Department of Transportation and the Department of Community and Economic Development will be approached for money. Gov. Ed Rendell’s office also will be asked for funding, Mr. Eachus said.

“For me it’s about the jobs and (higher) wages, plain and simple,” he said. “We don’t really get to do the type of projects in Northeastern Pennsylvania that can have such a positive impact on wages. This is our shot.”