Sometime support comes from unexpected places. U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, D-7, of Edgmont is backing a bipartisan bill in the state legislature calling for a regional airport authority. One of the 24 state legislators who introduced the bill is state Rep. Stephen Barrar, R-160, of Boothwyn.

Barrar said Sestak's predecessor, Republican Curt Weldon, never got too involved in state legislative matters but welcomes support.

"If [Sestak's] support helps to move this legislation along, it's a good thing," Barrar said.

The plan would group Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley airports with those in Wilmington and Atlantic City to take some of the pressure of Philadelphia International. Northeast Philadelphia Airport is not on the list.

Barrar said the total number of landings and takeoffs to and from Philadelphia is expected to

Increase by 50 percent, from the current 530, 000 per year to more than 700, 000 per year by 2025.

That level of traffic is perceived as too intense, he said. Philadelphia airport is overused while the others are underutilized.

"There's no way Philadelphia could meet that capacity," Barrar said, "... And the impact, environmentally, to the surrounding communities would be enormous."

The other airports can handle the traffic because, Barrar said, 50 percent of the traffic volume at Philadelphia is for flight of no more than 500 miles.

"The aircraft doing those shorter hops are normally smaller aircraft. You're not getting the 747s for a 500-mile hop, you're getting the small commuter airplane. That's the type of traffic that could divert to some of these smaller airports."

Another issue, at least for legislators outside the city, is one of control.

"[At least] 50 percent of the airport sits in Delaware County and Delaware County has absolutely no say over [running] that airport whatsoever," said Barrar. "It's important for Delaware County and the surrounding counties to have some control over this important, vital piece of infrastructure."

That control would extend to the operation and in planning the way this will affect our communities in the future.

"The FAA redesign will put an enormous amount of traffic into the airspace over Delaware County, and we have [now] no control over anything. We will reap the problems of the air traffic but get absolutely no benefit except for some of the jobs."

In a press release issued last week, Sestak said he supports the legislation because "... it ensures fairness in who has authority over the Philadelphia International Airport, three-quarters of which is located in Delaware County yet is controlled solely by the City of

Philadelphia. Passage of this legislation would ensure, for example, that the unfair and poorly done FAA airspace redesign proposal would not be implemented because concerns of citizens affected by the proposal would have to be taken into consideration. Hopefully, passage of this legislation will help stop the FAA's airspace redesign proposal."

Of the 24 sponsors of HB 1182, five are Republicans and 19 are Democrats.

According to the proposal itself, "The purpose of the authority is to operate airports under the jurisdiction of the authority and to ensure a regional approach to planning and operations among the area's airports and airfields."

Among other powers, the authority would be able to "... acquire, purchase, hold, lease as lessee and use any property and any property interest necessary or desirable for carrying out the purpose of the authority. This paragraph includes franchises and property which is real, personal or mixed and which is tangible or intangible."