Philadelphia airport plans more than $1 billion runway expansion

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Posted 8:35AM on Wednesday, April 24, 2002

PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia International Airport announced plans to build new runways and extend existing ones in an expansion plan whose price tag could reach $2 billion. The plan is supposed to reduce flight delays and address an expected increase in the number of passengers using the airport. The city-owned airport is one of the nation's most congested, with one in four departures and arrivals at least 15 minutes late last year. "What's at stake here is quite literally our position as a first-class airport," said Philadelphia Commerce Director James Cuorato, who oversees the Division of Aviation. "We have to move forward with a plan like this." Philadelphia International and its main carrier, US Airways, are already in the middle of a terminal expansion project. A commuter terminal opened in June, and a $400 million international terminal is expected to open this year, increasing the number of airport gates from 65 to 125. "But gate capacity doesn't help get planes in and out of the sky, or on and off the runways," Aviation Director Charles Isdell said. Airport officials want two commercial-size aircraft to be able to touch down at the same time, even in bad weather. The airport's current layout does not permit simultaneous landings, a major cause of flight delays. Officials are considering two design options, one calling for two new runways and the other calling for three new runways. Officials expect the number of passengers to double by 2020, and the number of takeoffs and landings to increase more than 60 percent. The runway expansion project would be finished by 2010 at the earliest, according project consultant Allan R. A'Hara of DMJM Aviation. A quarter of the project's funding would come from the federal government, Isdell said. The rest would be financed with city-issued bonds and an existing $4.50 per-passenger surcharge.