Lehigh Valley International Airport has just completed a deal with Delusion Airlines, which will pretend to fly passengers anywhere in the world they want. It is estimated that there might be up to 250,000 people in the valley with occasional hallucinations. Since the planes don't actually go anywhere, Delusion Airlines will not be sticking LVIA with a $million dollar fuel bill, as did all the previous airlines. Currently, there are not many flights that actually go anyplace. There are no direct flights to any city in Florida, except Orlando twice a week. There are no direct flights to Boston, or any other city considered a destination in the travel business. The busiest flight is the Continental Airline Bus to Newark. Despite still owing $16 million for land they never used, despite having less domestic flights than the old airport shown above, yesterday
The Morning Call reported a plan to spend $5 million for a U.S. Customs station for international flights.
Speaking of Dumbo and outrageous spending, I now have a post up detailing the actual cost of 36 "minor league" hockey rinks built in the last 15 years in the United States and Canada ...
ReplyDelete(primary source : Marquette University Law School)
... it is interesting to note that almost one in six of these facilities no longer hosts a professional hockey team ...
... the rink in Winnipeg, which was built to host an American Hockey League team but is now home to a team in the elite National Hockey League, can hold almost twice as many people (15,000) as Chairman Pawlowski's Palace of Sport and cost at least $ 33.0 million dollars less.
(historical odds say construction cost overruns on the projected $ 158.0 million for the transformative Palace of Sport are something more than likely)
ROLF OELER
Turn your comments on! What are you afraid of? BTW your numbers are wrong because you don't include inflation.
DeleteFor the future of commercial aviation at LVIA, look 30 miles west to Reading airport, where commercial flights ended several years ago.
ReplyDeleteRising fuel costs and the elimination of inefficient regional jets and unprofitable routes spell the demise of smaller airports like LVIA.
Local business and political leaders should be pushing for the creation of passenger rail links to the big cities, as a hedge against the probable elimination of commercial air service at LVIA.
What about Hosier Airlines?
ReplyDeleteBrent Barr of Fox News has an hour special highlighting how local governments have overspent taxpayer dollars.
ReplyDeleteIt keeps getting better and better. Our public servant stewards refuse to recognize the current change in the economic climate and the development of a new world way of living. Allentown and the Lehigh Valley refuse to prepare for it. Head in sand.
ReplyDelete@10:34, sign your name, what are you afraid of?
ReplyDeleteCourageous Anonymous 10:34,
ReplyDeleteThose are not my numbers, they are those of the University of Marquette Law School.
I listed the year built with the total construction cost.
What more do you want? You want inflation numbers - figure them out for yourself.
Or do you need me to do all THAT work, then, too?
R.O.
comment 10:34 apparently used "your" to refer to two different people. submitted comments which encourage "chat" room dialogue, and/or replies, may not appear.
ReplyDeleteWhy bitch and moan because some people choose to remain anon.???????
ReplyDeleteWhy not encourage lively back and forth. It's part of what makes your blog interesting???????
@10:54, a moderated blog precludes a "lively back and forth", unless i wanted to monitor the site 24/7. moderation is unfortunately necessary because of a few antagonists, who already have managed to force a number of bloggers to quit. i attempt to produce a post 6 days a week, and host comments which agree, or disagree, but contribute to the discussion at hand. i apologize for any rejected comments, but do my best with limited staff.
ReplyDeleteIt's frustrating to see LVIA go down the tubes. I used to prefer flying into ABE when I visit family, even though that requires a connection. But now, even that connection has become difficult. 15 years ago, LVIA seemed a perfect airport for Southwest Airlines (then) expansion plans. However, they missed their chance to land (no pun intended) the fastest growing airline. With Southwest in both Newark and Philly, there's about zero chance they'll ever serve ABE.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, when I or my family visit the Valley, we fly direct to Newark or Philly. The convenience of flying into ABE has been more than offset by the hassle of few connections to choose from.