THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY Certain Chambers of Commerce within the State provided testimony emphasizing the importance of regional airports to companies that choose New Jersey as a place to do business. Regional airports are essential in many phases of many types of businesses, from corporations that need to transport customers and goods to health care facilities that require immediate transport of patients in emergency situations. The findings of this Commission as it relates to the business community highlight the need for strong and immediate support for regional airports. The representative of the 600-member Somerset County Chamber of Commerce stated: "without trying to be exhaustive about this, some of our residents include: AT&T, the Chubb group of insurance companies, Ethicon, Beneficial Management, National Starch & Chemical, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals, Hoechst-Celanese, the Forbes and Gannett newspaper families and others too numerous to mention."200 The airports in Somerset County are Somerset, Princeton and Kupper201 [now known as Central Jersey Regional]. The Chamber, in 1995, formed an Airport Task Force "out of concern for the plight of local airports."202 "The crux of our message to you today is simply this: viable, capable local airports are important to businesses of many types and descriptions."203 There are four reasons why this is so: "First, the defining economic trend in contemporary corporate life is efficiency . . . [A]ir travel efficiency is not defined solely in terms of the availability of major air carrier facilities like Newark Airport. Rather, the time and expense of savings that businesses can and do achieve by the use of local airports is substantial. It is . . . why so many corporations own their own aircraft."204 "[S]econd . . . is that businesses do, in fact, use our local airports. Their advantages are not merely theoretical, but practical. We know that salesmen use our airports to call on customers. Attorneys travel by air to meet with clients and go to court. Construction firms use aircraft to access construction projects. Major corporations bring customers and people from other offices into our local airports all the time so they arrive at a place that is only minutes from headquarters, rather than an hour. Our airports are used for patient transport for our local hospitals. They are used for cargo delivery . . . We believe that businesses would use better airports more than they use them now, and that the overall benefit to New Jersey would be substantial."205 "[T]hird . . .our sampling of information available to us suggests that approximately 25 percent of the aircraft based in our county airports are corporately owned." "Fourth . . . is that other states are actively using outstanding airport facilities as enticements to attract business to their areas. It is probably no secret, but I suspect they are actively trying to take at least a portion of our businesses away from us. States such as Ohio, Delaware, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and others have aggressive, publicly funded programs that, to one degree or another, support and encourage the development of new airport facilities and the enhancement of existing facilities."206 "We do not suggest that the quality of airports alone will decide which regions of the country will prosper in the future, and which will lag behind. We do know that Somerset County has lost a business [Maresco International] to another state precisely because that other state offered an aviation-dependent company facilities that the company saw as superior. We understand that there has been a similar situation, at least in Ocean County."207 " Our point: In the overall . . . we cannot afford to lose more. So we do contend that our competition in other states is wise enough to see that outstanding airport facilities are an important piece of the transportation infrastructure puzzle."208 The Somerset Chamber of Commerce expressed this view in testimony: "We believe that airports enhance the overall quality of life in Somerset County . . . According to our figures, there are 560 aircraft that are based at our three county airports, plus Solberg. Those aircraft are owned by hundreds of families, businesses, partnerships, and individuals. I suggest we ask them whether airports enhance the quality of their lives. There are precious few places left for them, and their interests should weigh just as heavily in the quality of life balance as those who have chosen to live near a general aviation airport."209 On the issue of local control, "Here, we believe, an overriding principle must be kept in mind. The very thing gives airplanes and airports value-and this applies equally to large and small airplanes and large and small airports-is that they are part of a national transportation system . . . In order for the national air transportation system to work, it must be susceptible to uniform treatment . . . The courts have consistently rejected the efforts of individual state and local governments to intrude upon the area of aircraft operation, frequently under the guise of local noise ordinances . . . [e]fforts for local control seem to continue, and that, we submit, is not as it should be. We do think that some of the difficulties that airports, airport neighbors, and local government sometime have . . . in getting along, result from a lack of communication and a lack of understanding. Our Chamber of Commerce has, in the past, attempted to bring these groups together to discuss their concerns openly and amicably. We will continue to be available to assist them in that effort . . . "210 The Somerset County Chamber of Commerce addressed the importance of regional airports to their economic viability. "[A]irports are significant businesses in and of themselves. Our Somerset County airports, plus Solberg, provide a direct, full-time livelihood for more than 50 families. We found that they have a substantially greater employment when you count seasonal employees. They have annual gross revenues in the aggregate of more than $6 million per year. Their employees, and the businesses they spin off, help to support a myriad of other businesses-local food service establishments, fuel dealers, car rental agencies and so forth. In an era where the loss of significant corporate jobs to downsizing has sent New Jersey's unemployment rate to 7.3 percent, every job is precious, and every job that is within our power to preserve should be preserved."211 The Somerset County Chamber of Commerce urged the following goals: * The preservation of New Jersey's existing airports through appropriate financial and regulatory support, so that airports are preserved as a critical component of the New Jersey transportation infrastructure in perpetuity. * The enhancement of New Jersey's existing aviation facilities to make them safer, more capable, and more attractive to business. * The recognition that New Jersey's airports are a part of the national system of transportation, and that the capabilities be marketed actively as a part of New Jersey's overall business retention and development strategy. * That airports, local governments and interested citizens be encouraged to discuss amicably and sensibly issues of mutual concern. * That the quality of life be considered so that all of the citizens of New Jersey can enjoy and point, with pride, to their airport system.212 Hunterdon County Chamber of Commerce concurred by letter.213 Brief excerpts follow: New Jersey's general aviation airports are an important factor in the overall business and financial strength of the state . . . The three Hunterdon County airports [Solberg, Alexandria and Sky Manor] were directly or indirectly responsible for 440 jobs generating a payroll of more than $9 million! . . . While the Hunterdon County Chamber of Commerce cannot endorse the specific plans of any county airport without a comprehensive review of the specific project undertaking, we do offer our support and encouragement for the retention of Hunterdon County general aviation facilities and the continued maintenance of those facilities to make them as safe, comprehensive and attractive as possible to businesses and individual pilots. We also urge airport owners, municipal government leaders and interested citizens to discuss issues of mutual concern regarding their local airports in a sensible and constructive manner.214 Footnotes: 200 NJGASC, 1/30/98, page 73 201 NJGASC, 1/30/96 page 75. 202 NJGASC, 1/30/96. 203 NJGASC, 1/30/96. 204 NJGASC, 1/30/96. 205 NJGASC, 1/30/96 page 78. 206 NJGASC, 1/30/96 page 79. 207 NJGASC, 1/30/96 pages 79-80. 208 NJGASC, 1/30/96 page 80. 209 NJGASC, 1/30/96 page 81. 210 See Exhibit 43. 211 NJGASC, 1/30/96 page 83. 212 NJGASC, 1/30/96 page 84. 213 See Exhibit 44. 214 Id.