Advisory Board Seen as Help for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport

Posted on Mon, Nov. 10, 2003

Advisory Board Seen as Help for Airport
Two county commissioners see feedback from professionals, public as useful
to facility.

Wilkes Barre Weekender, PA

PITTSTON TWP. - Insiders at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International
Airport want to bring outsiders to the table next year for input on
running the facility owned by Lackawanna and Luzerne counties.

Some members of the new bi-county board of commissioners that will oversee
the airport are calling for creation of an "advisory board" made up of
representatives of the airline and travel industries, businesspeople and
the public.

The addition of the advisors is on the wish list of county commissioners.
Already they face the task of pulling the airport out of a nosedive in
revenues and passengers and piloting an estimated $64 million expansion
project to completion.

There is hope the board, which will have three new members and a changed
political makeup, can work together to direct the airport out of its
slump.

Lackawanna County Commissioner Robert Cordaro, a Republican and current
airport board member, said he wants "to bring in more voices and more
regions into the process through an advisory board or some other
mechanism."

Cordaro has been critical of airport management and the sole proponent for
disbanding the board of commissioners and replacing it with airline and
airport professionals.

He has backed off that plan for the time being because of legal
obligations the commissioners have with the ongoing expansion.

The immediate attention, then, should be "how best to move forward with
more people involved," Cordaro said.

"The region wasn't served" with the way things were done in the past, he
added. "The marketplace wasn't involved in the process."

With a new team of commissioners in the wings - including two newcomers
from Luzerne County and one from Lackawanna County - the old way of doing
business could be history, Cordaro said.

Airport Director Barry Centini said the new board has work to do. He hopes
the commissioners are on the same page with him regarding completing the
construction and increasing the number of flights.

"I don't think it will change any focus," said Centini of the new board.

"Maybe there will be a board of six that will be participating," said
Luzerne County Commissioner Steve Urban.

He and Cordaro made up the Republican minority of the current six-member
board of commissioners and often questioned the decisions of the
Democratic majority and Centini.

Come January, Republicans and Democrats will have equal numbers of seats
on the new board.


"I hope there's a sharing of Republican and Democrat as chairman and vice
chairman of the board," Urban said.

Joining the bi-county board in January will be A.J. Munchak, Cordaro's
Republican running mate; and Luzerne County commissioners-elect Todd
Vonderheid and Greg Skrepanak, both Democrats.

Randy Castellani, a Democrat from Lackawanna County, will serve a second
four-year term on the airport board. Gone will be his running mate,
longtime Lackawanna County Commissioner Joseph Corcoran, and Luzerne
County Commissioners Tom Makowski and Tom Pizano, all Democrats.

Castellani, Munchak and Skrepenak did not return phone messages left for
them last week.

Urban said he shared Cordaro's thoughts on the creation of an advisory
board. Beyond that, the two commissioners have "more of a business sense"
approach to operating the airport, said Urban.

"I would like to see more emphasis on general aviation," said Urban. "I
hope that Bob does, too."

Urban also said he wants the airport to provide a budget to the
commissioners for approval, something that has not been done in the past.

Whether he gets the support of the other commissioners remains to be seen,
but Cordaro said he believes the new board will work together.

"I'm optimistic about the new majority in Luzerne County. Obviously my
running mate is on board with it," Cordaro said of Munchak.

Vonderheid said his agenda as a new board member is attracting more
flights and making them competitively priced with other airports drawing
away regional travelers.

Vonderheid, a vice president with the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of
Business and Industry, said he will work to give management more tools and
resources to boost the airport's financial and passenger numbers.

The political parity of the new board should not stifle progress. "I don't
think competitively priced flights and more flights are partisan issues,"
Vonderheid said.



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