Queen City Airport to Make Room for 60 More Planes

Allentown's plans to build up to 10 more hangars to make room for 60 more small planes, according to a report in The Morning Call.

The Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority voted Tuesday not to sell the 210-acre airfield located off Lehigh Street on the Salisbury Township border, the report said.

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, who has pushed to sell the airport for commercial development, cast the only dissenting vote.

The authority will open bids Friday to begin building a 360-foot taxiway for 10 to 60 small airplanes, according to the Call. The $1.1 million project, which will include eight to 10 hangars, could be underway by October and completed by early next year, it said.

The board's vote follows a Federal Aviation Administration directive that if the Queen City Airport is sold, the proceeds would have to be used to build a new airport and not help pay off the authority's debt.