State Rep. Bryan Lentz, D-161, of Swarthmore, introduced legislation Tuesday that would establish a regional airport authority for Southeastern Pennsylvania, which he said could help reduce air traffic at Philadelphia International Airport and bring high-speed rail service to the area.

Air travel is expected to increase dramatically in the coming years, and Pennsylvania is the only state in the northeastern United States without a regional authority controlling its airports and airfields, according to the bill. The absence of a regional authority in Pennsylvania prevents coordination of planning and operations and ensures underuse of regional airports, as a result of which Philadelphia International Airport is overused and airports in the Lehigh Valley, Wilmington, Del., and Atlantic City, N.J., are dramatically underused. Mark Pesce, director of public relations for Philadelphia International, did not return calls for comment Tuesday. The bill would establish an authority board, made up of appointed members from Delaware, Lehigh, Northampton, Philadelphia, Bucks and Montgomery counties. Additional members would be appointed by the president pro tempore of the state Senate, the minority leader of the Senate, and the majority and minority leaders of the House of Representatives. Lentz said in the short term, the board could look to shift many local commuter flights to regional airports, citing a recent report from the Brookings Institute that found more than half of all flights in the U.S. are to destinations within 500 miles. It s better for us as a community because of less over-flights, but the business of the airport would be better able to focus on international travel, which is better for the economy, he said. The board would also enter into cooperative agreements with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and Amtrak to incorporate high-speed rail development into congestion-relief planning prior to airport expansion. Lentz touted rail systems as environmentally cleaner and more efficient than air travel, and said President Barack Obama has pledged to put billions of dollars into developing such systems as an alternative to flying. We are competing as a state and as a region for that money, said Lentz. The region with the best plan is going to get that money and in order to get a comprehensive best plan, we need a regional authority governing our airports and our transportation system. Lentz had offered a similar bill in 2007, partly in reaction to new flight patterns over the county associated with the Federal Aviation Administration s airspace redesign at Philadelphia International, but it never went beyond the House Transportation Committee.

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