WILKES-BARRE — Luzerne County has approved new agreement with Lackawanna County to continue jointly operating the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport.
County council unanimously approved the agreement on Tuesday. The Federal Aviation Administration has asked the counties to approve a new partnership agreement to allow the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport to continue to receive FAA funding.
The FAA has wanted a single federal sponsor of the airport for the purposes of federal grant administration and compliance. Under a 1968 agreement between the counties to share ownership of the airport, both counties are sponsors.
The name of the new partnership entity would be “AVP Bi-County Partnership.” The airport has an Avoca mailing address and is primarily in Pittston Twp. in Luzerne County.
Luzerne County council members expressed various concerns with the proposed partnership agreement at a meeting on Oct. 14 and noted Lackawanna County’s unwillingness to provide funding to pay law enforcement officers at the airport. That dispute was resolved in November.
The “leadership change in Lackawanna County” helped lead to the airport agreement, Councilman John Lombardo said at a work session on Jan. 13.
“This is a great agreement,” Lombardo said Tuesday. “It definitely resolves a lot of the issues that I think we’ve been trepidatious about. So I’m very happy to support this, and I look forward to more partnerships with Lackawanna County because I think that there are a lot more opportunities than just here at the airport.”
Lackawanna County only had two commissioners — Democrat Bill Gaughan and Republican Chris Chermak — after Democrat Matt McGloin resigned in February 2025. A long and contentious replacement process ended in October when Democrat Brenda Sacco was appointed as an interim commissioner. Democrat Thom Welby replaced Sacco in late November after winning a two-year term in a special election.
Under the new partnership agreement, each county is an equal partner and serves on the joint board of managers, and each partner on the board continues to be represented by three member representatives. It’s the same arrangement under the current agreement from 1968.
Lackawanna is represented by the three commissioners, and Luzerne is represented by the county manager and two council members. Each county must agree for airport board approval of a motion or resolution to pass. The new agreement also states each county “shall share equal responsibility for all costs and expenses associated with operating the Airport.”