Lawmakers hear airport concerns
A tour of Washington County Airport was scheduled Thursday for the state Senate Aviation Caucus, but only two of 26 caucus members showed.
“You’d like the turnout to be better,” said airport executive director Scott Gray, “but the key is the willingness of the caucus to go out and hear from airports and constituents instead of sitting in Harrisburg.”
That caucus did have a presence, though, as Republicans Camera Bartolotta and David Argall were on hand for the tour, an informational session and a question-and-answer session at the South Franklin Township facility.
So were representatives of the Indiana and Bedford county airports and the one in DuBois.
Inconsistent levels of funding for infrastructure improvements, shortages of pilots and mechanics and other challenges facing county and other smaller airports across Pennsylvania were discussed.
The end to the state’s 6 percent sales and use tax on parts and services, including maintenance and repairs, generally was praised.
“Funding of infrastructure is extremely important,” Gray said. “With limited amounts of funds, there are limited amounts of infrastructure and other improvements.”
His airport – through a mix of funding. including money from the county Local Share Account – has been able to make a number of recent upgrades. Gray said $3 million in improvements have been made there over the past two years.
Bartolotta, of Carroll Township, is a proponent of county airports. And a pilot herself.
“There are a lot of wonderful county airports. We hope other Pennsylvania county airports can be a huge destination for their regions,” Bartolotta said, while standing in front of her plane, Mary Frances, inside Hangar 3.
“A lot of people look at county airports as a place where the rich person can fly around. But for industries like oil and gas, it’s easier to fly into Washington County and Greene County (than Pittsburgh International or Allegheny County airports).”
Washington County Airport, owned by the county and administered by its Redevelopment Authority, got good grades from a number of quarters.
“Washington County is not huge,” said Argall, of West Chester, chairman of the aviation caucus who was making his second trip to the airport this year. “But I’m very impressed with the size of operations and the number of jobs here. It’s obvious they are doing something right here.”
Tom Robertson, manager of Indiana County Jimmy Stewart Airport, and three Indiana County authority members attended. He lamented the lack of efficiency of transportation there.
“We have no freeway, no rail service. All we have is an airport. We were happy to get a new runway that’s 5,500 feet … (but) we don’t have approaches, and the entire county is hurting because of this.”
In an interview later, Robertson said, “We’d like to get the business they have in Washington County. If you have an extra business, ship it to us.”