Global economy flies in to NEPA

02/04/2007

Northeastern Pennsylvania often has found itself on the downside of the global economy. Big manufacturing operations in the region, which traditionally paid family-sustaining wages, have closed as operations have been moved to low-wage countries.

Now, some benefits of the global economy could come back to the region in spectacular fashion. A private-public partnership comprising the state and Luzerne County governments, and the private investment group Gladstone Partners, announced plans last week to construct a $1.6 billion cargo-only international airport on 4,300 acres of former coal-mining land in Hazle Township, Luzerne County.

If the parties can pull off the project, its potential for Northeastern Pennsylvania would be vast. The private developers, for example, see the greatest potential not in the airport development itself, but in the development that it would generate.

Business logistics and distribution already comprise one of the region’s major employment sectors, responsible for about 50,000 jobs. The airport project would further solidify the existing job base and add more than 4,000 more at the airport itself.

Growth in global shipping gives credence to the proposal. Big airports in the Northeast that handle international freight also handle passengers. The biggest of those are badly congested, from Boston through New York to Philadelphia. And most of them have run out of room to expand in order to handle more freight.

Construction of a freight-only airport in Northeastern Pennsylvania could help to ease congestion at the big, multiuse airports. And an airport here would be close enough to New York, Philadelphia and New England for easy ground shipment.

Although most international freight is sent by ship, the most profitable part of international shipping is air cargo. That’s why the International Air Transport Association predicts a 6 percent annual growth rate for international air cargo, particularly if fuel prices stabilize. Boeing and Airbus project greater growth in production of air freighters than passenger planes, to the point that Boeing has developed a revised version of its venerable 747 to meet the demand.

Getting a piece of a certain growth industry the size of international air shipping could fundamentally alter the economic base of Northeastern Pennsylvania for the better, far into the future. State and federal lawmakers from the region should do all that they can to ensure that Northeastern Pennsylvania becomes a bigger player in the global economy.