Airport plan looks like a winner     

Friday, 02 February 2007 

When then-Mayor Michael Marsicano first floated a plan for a huge cargo airport near the Humboldt Industrial Park nearly a decade ago, the proposal sounded to many people like pie in the sky.

But Marsicano and his partner, former city solicitor and successful lawyer Bob Powell, never gave up on the idea. This week they took all of northeastern Pennsylvania by surprise with their announcement that the cargo airport has a good chance to become reality, and in the process transform Greater Hazleton forever.

So far, we haven’t heard anyone oppose the $1.6-billion project. And that’s not surprising, considering the potential it has.

Consider these numbers:

-- 4,500 jobs to be created when the airport opens, as soon as the year 2010.

-- 160,000 potential “spinoff” jobs created throughout the Hazleton area.

-- $17 billion infused into the regional economy.

The ripples from those numbers are hard to imagine. Good-paying jobs would be created for area residents. Real estate prices would rebound.We could expect significant commercial, recreational, educational and cultural growth.

In short, Hazleton could come to dominate northeastern Pennsylvania, overtaking Wilkes-Barre and Scranton in population and economic clout.

Would there be a downside?

Any big change has pros and cons. Some local residents have already said they’re concerned about increases in noise, traffic and pollution. But the project’s supporters say those fears are exaggerated. Newer jet planes are much quieter than older craft. Approach and departure lanes would be designed to minimize air traffic over populated areas, and pilots would use techniques to keep landing and takeoff noise down. Marsicano, a retired commercial airline pilot, points out that the quick and easy landing patterns the new airport would allow will greatly reduce fuel use and emissions currently generated by jets stacked up over the congested New York airspace.

The airport will require better highways. Powell and Marsicano believe that proposed new access routes to Interstate 81 could handle most of the airport traffic and even reduce traffic on already congested Route 924.

So what took this huge project from the drawing board to real viability?

Two factors were critical: the tragedy of 9/11 and an innovative idea by Gladstone Partners, the firm headed by Powell, Marsicano and Gregory Zappala.

In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Congress has mandated the inspection of air freight. It is more feasible to install and house the necessary X-ray equipment at a new cargo airport than to retrofit existing facilities that handle both freight and passengers.

The innovative idea that made the difference was Gladstone’s proposal to turn over the airport to a county-run authority. That clears the way for financing through the county government’s borrowing authority and also keeps the airport operation in the public domain.

If it flies, this plan should be a winner for the Hazleton area.