1268                            Laws of Maryland                       Ch. 529

ARTICLE 62C

[MARYLAND] FRIENDSHIP INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

AUTHORITY

1. Legislative intent.

(a)  The General Assembly of Maryland makes the following dec-
larations as a statement of its legislative intent in the enactment of
this article.

(b)  The Friendship International Airport which is owned and
operated by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore is rendering
a service to the entire State. Residents [of all] from many parts
of the State benefit directly from the commerce which the Friend-
ship International Airport attracts and services. Any improvement
to this airport which increases its air passenger and air freight
traffic, both domestic and foreign, will benefit the people of the
entire State of Maryland. At the present time anticipated condi-
tions under which the airport must operate because of the advance
to be made in air transportation in the immediate future require a
substantial financial investment to enable the airport to continue
to grow along with the expansion of air traffic.

(c)  The purpose of the General Assembly in enacting this article
is to recognize the importance of Friendship International Airport
to the State of Maryland [and the fact that the expense involved
is beyond the ability of the City of Baltimore to provide the neces-
sary financial investment] as well as to the City of Baltimore.
Increased air carrier service may be attracted to this area by (1)
developing new facilities and improving existing facilities to pro-
vide better and more effective handling of air passengers and air
freight and also by (2) effectively advertising and promoting the
facility and the use of the airport.

(d)  The development of the airport to make it able to attract
and increase the volume of air carrier traffic will require the con-
struction of additional modern facilities and installations as well
as the rehabilitation of existing facilities. [A public airport] An
authority [with the use of public funds] which could raise funds
from the sale of revenue bonds will be able to construct, rehabilitate,
and [, if necessary,] operate such facilities and installations.

(e)  [The development of Friendship International Airport to
enable it to keep pace with the rapid technological advances in air
transportation will also envision the necessity in the not-too-distant
future of the acquisition or creation of satellite airports to enable
the diverting of private air traffic from the commercial traffic ar-
riving and departing from Friendship International Airport. The
Authority created by this article will be able to satisfactorily cope
with this future program.] The development of Friendship Inter-
national Airport could best be achieved by the combined efforts
of the State of Maryland and the City of Baltimore in an Authority,
in which both participate.

(f)  The best interests of the City of Baltimore and the State of
Maryland include the need for effecting sound economies wherever
possible, promoting efficient inter-connected air, sea and land trans-
portation, utilizing available financial resources to accomplish [most]
necessary projects, and planning effectively for future growth in
air [, sea and land] transportation.