Angle: Lehigh Valley Airport Run Like Private Country Club

Ron Angle, the Northampton County Bulldog, believes a well-run local airport is key to this area's economic development. It should be a cornerstone. But at last night's Northampton County Council meeting, he claimed the Lehigh Valley International Airport is a "little bit of a joke."

For one thing, he's always wondered how Hooters, which used to fly out of LVIA, could run up a fuel bill of over $1 million and just walk away. Some prominent local businessmen recently told Angle how that happened.

"The people who exercise a lot of influence in the Valley, the community hierarchy, whatever you want to call them, not the politicians necessarily, but the behind the scenes people; they like the fact that Hooter went to Myrtle Beach, where you could play golf. And they didn't want Hooters to stop going to Myrtle Beach because, quite frankly, they liked going to Myrtle Beach.

"I know in the real business world, if somebody tried to run up a fuel bill, way before they got to $1 million, somebody would say 'Hey, you're not getting any more fuel. You have to ship a payment over here if you want any more fuel.'

"Everybody just shluffed that off. Frankly, the airport is managed like a private country club."

According to Angle, the real problem is George F. Doughty, executive director of the Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority, which owns the airport. Instead of serving the people of the Lehigh Valley, Angle maintains that Doughty serves a "small segment" of elitists. "He took care of his buddies over at Queen City, who like their private country club little airport over there. That was nice he was able to do that."

"His reward for lousy performance was a new contract."

Angle noted that LVIA recently acquired Southeast, when it should have gone after Southwest. "Delta's been trying to get in, but they have no interest in Delta or Southwest."

County Council member Mike Dowd, who serves on the Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority, agreed it is poorly managed. "I think the Airport Authority is changing, Ron, and is far more active than it was."

Dowd declined to discuss Doughty's three-year contract, noting it is "inappropriate" to discuss a personnel matter. Angle retorted, "Well, he's being paid by the public, quite frankly, I don't know it's inappropriate to talk about it. His money comes from the Airport Authority, which is a public agency."

Executive John Stoffa agrees that Doughty does set the direction. "People have to decide if the leadership that's there is the leadership that we want. There's a need for some change." Stoffa noted he would not recommend any extension of Doughty's contract. ... I think there should be a clear message that new leadership is desired"

Stoffa asked Angle how he'd improve things. Angle responded, "If you and the Executive in Lehigh, Cunningham, get together on this, and I understand he's been approached, we have the authority to abolish the Authority and re-appoint a new Authority. That's one of the things I think we may do. Maybe we could get a group of good business people to take a look at should we be doing that."