Lehigh Valley Airport Is Getting Nearly $1M More From the State. Here Are the Passenger-Focused Improvements It Plans To Make

After being forced to replace one of its passenger boarding bridges, Lehigh Valley International Airport has received $850,000 in state funding to upgrade eight more of them.

LVIA said Wednesday that it received the money from state Sen. Lisa Boscola, a Northampton County Democrat, as part of the 2022-23 state budget that was passed in the summer.

“There’s definitely operational stress on these necessary pieces of equipment, with the majority of the bridges over 25 years old,” said Tom Stoudt, executive director of the Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority, in a statement.

In August, the airport received $1.7 million from the state for a new boarding bridge at Gate 3 after the original bridge was decommissioned for being beyond its useful life.

“These upgrades along with a significant investment made by the airport over the past few years to refurbish other areas of these bridges ensures the maximize useful life of these critical pieces of equipment,” said Colin Riccobon, LNAA director of public and government relations.

Among the several critical enhancements is converting the bridge controls to industry-standard programmable logic controllers, which will improve reliability and service capabilities while ensuring safe and efficient bridge operation during aircraft docking, LVIA said.

Additionally, the bridges will use management software to monitor performance. The airport will also use updated power sources for attached aircraft that will cut down on emissions.

LVIA said it had one of the busiest summer travel seasons in recent history. From June to August, 282,852 passengers used the airport — compared with the 267,508 travelers in the same period of 2021.

“Extremely busy, that’s the best way to describe the last three months at your neighborhood airport,” Stoudt said. “Indications of strong airline bookings and predictions by industry experts for heavy volumes of travelers taking to the skies certainly came to fruition.”

Morning Call reporter Evan Jones can be reached at [email protected].

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