June 22 is the deadline for airlines to submit bids for the
Essential Air Service contract at  Bradford Regional Airport,
according to a report from the airport authority’s meeting
Wednesday.

The current EAS contract with Gulfstream International Airlines
expires on Sept. 30.

Since Oct. 1, 2008, Gulfstream  has been operating daily flights
on its Continental Connection to Cleveland’s Hopkins International
Airport under EAS, a federal program that ensures that smaller
communities would maintain a link with the national air
transportation system following the Deregulation Act of
1978. Federal subsidies can be paid to the airlines, if
necessary.

Airport Director Tom Frungillo said that a meeting with
Gulfstream officials to discuss EAS is slated for Monday.

The U.S. Department of Transportation will review the bids and
issue an order to receive public comments.

“Community support is an important factor in DOT’s decision to
when choosing carriers,” Frungillo noted.

During the meeting, Frungillo said that Continental Connection
recorded a 99 percent completion factor for flights during May.

Frungillo also noted that a new roof, made of metal, will be
applied to the brick hangar building, one of the oldest structures
at the facility.

Authority officials signed the contract with B&H Taxilane of
Binghamton, N.Y., for the taxiway lighting project.

According to Ed Nasuti, president of Lee-Simpson Inc., the
airport’s engineering firm, “This project, which involves removing
in-pavement runway taxiway lights that are no longer required by
the Federal Aviation Administration, and replacing an automatic
switch for taxiway lighting, should begin within a couple of
weeks. Of course, other runway lighting is still required.”

Approximately two days for seeding and mulching are left before
the obstruction removal along Runway 14-32 is finished, Nasuti
said. 

Nasuti also said that efforts will be made to schedule a
meeting with FAA and Pennsylvania Department of
Transportation officials where several airport projects — final
inspection of the runway obstruction work and the pre-construction
meeting for the taxiway lighting improvements — can be
discussed.

Also to be scheduled is a pre-design meeting for the runway
pavement rehabilitation project. For this project, which is sealing
cracks on Runway 14-32, the primary runway, the airport is
authorized to use non-primary funds from the FAA, Nasuti said.

“We are waiting for Congress to release this money so the FAA
can in turn release the money,” Nasuti said.

Nasuti explained that “non-primary” funding is $150,000 in
annual entitlements for airports with fewer than 10,000
emplanements.