The Akron Legal News

Login | March 28, 2024

Proposed airline commission would aim to boost commercial flights in Ohio

TIFFANY L. PARKS
Special to the Legal News

Published: April 17, 2014

A pair of Cleveland lawmakers are backing a bill designed to help sustain and expand Ohio’s commercial airline and air freight service.

House Bill 409 would create the Commercial Airline and Air Freight Commission, consisting of three members of the Senate, three members of the House of Representatives and individuals who represent the passenger airline companies and air freight companies doing business within the state.

The bill is jointly sponsored by Reps. Bill Patmon and John Barnes Jr., both Democrats.

In recent sponsor testimony for the bill before the House Transportation, Public Safety and Homeland Security committee, Patmon noted that there has been talk of the Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention coming to Ohio.

“The Cleveland Hopkins International Airport has recently seen setbacks with the downsizing of its United (Airlines) hub,” he said.

Patmon went on to highlight the recent announcement that United will cut nonstop flights to Albany and Baltimore from Cleveland.

“We always talk about keeping our college graduates in Ohio, but in order to realize this goal we need jobs. We need companies that operate world wide to have bases in Ohio,” he said.

“To attract these companies we need good airports, nonstop flights to other cities and we need to make sure that our commercial airlines and air freight services are evolving and competing — not just with each other but with the rest of the U.S.”

HB 409 would require the proposed commission to study the policies that are needed to achieve the goal of sustaining and expanding commercial passenger airline and air freight service.

They would include international service, into and from Ohio airports, and what role, if any, the awarding of incentives to commercial passenger airline and air freight companies should have in achieving that goal.

The bill was filed into the Ohio General Assembly in January but had its first committee hearing last week.

If the measure is signed into law, the commission would have to submit its first report, including its findings and recommendations, to the governor, Senate president and House speaker no later than March 31, 2015.

HB 409 has not been scheduled for additional hearings.

Copyright © 2014 The Daily Reporter - All Rights Reserved


[Back]