Chester County's small G.O. Carlson Airport has one of the longest runways among its peers in the region, but some say it is too short.
Airport and planning officials hope that the federal government will finance a $32 million master plan whose centerpiece is a longer runway to be built to the south of the existing runway.
The 77-year-old county-owned airport in Valley Township near Coatesville, used by small planes and private jets, now has a 5,400 foot-long runway. The master plan calls for the new runway to be 6,100 feet long, said Reiner Pelzer, a senior aviation planner at the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.
The current runway is too short for some private jets to take off with full fuel tanks, officials said. That means that they have to make shorter flights or bypass the airport entirely, said Gary Hudson, the airport's manager.
The airport, which does not have a control tower, is the Philadelphia region's second-busiest for small-plane traffic. Between 1986 and 1995, traffic at the airport grew 50 percent to 45,781 takeoffs and landings, but growth has slowed since then, according to the planning commission.
The commission reported 48,211 takeoffs and landings at Coatesville in 2003, the last year for which data is available. South Jersey International in Mount Holly, the busiest in the region for general aviation in the region, had 58,354 takeoffs and landings the same year. By comparison, there were 446,529 takeoffs and landings at Philadelphia International Airport in 2003.
"Because of the airport's close proximity to Philadelphia, a lot of corporations want to fly in and out of the area," Hudson said. The airport is near Route 30 and has free parking. "By us taking care of the runway problem, hopefully, people will want to come here."
He said the extension was meant primarily to accommodate jets that already use the airport, not to increase traffic.
Valley Township residents, however, are skeptical.
Residential development has accelerated since the Exton Bypass was finished 10 years ago, and public opinion is divided over an airport expansion, Arlen Yoder, Valley Township supervisors' chairman, said.
"There are a lot of details to be worked out," he said. He credited airport officials with being candid about their plans. "They weren't trying to hide anything. They've been trying to get input."
The airport is also used by MedEvac helicopters and private pilots flying small propeller planes.
Keeping corporate jets flying in and out of Coatesville can help reduce traffic at Philadelphia International, Pelzer said.
"People fly where it is best and easiest," he said. "It's a very slow and hard process to build a system of cutting down delays. The small stones are sometimes the ones that make the big ones roll."
Copyright 2005 Associated Press
