The Board of Aviation Commissioners (BOAC) has encountered some resistance in their efforts to expand the Greensburg Municipal Airport, but experts on air travel and its economic feasibility for the area told a different story.

The Indiana Strategic Air Transportation Service (INSATS) had representatives in Greensburg on Wednesday to discuss their vision for a nation with an alternative choice for travel. Their ultimate goal is to provide the world with on-demand, point-to-point and affordable jet travel that has the potential to expand economic development to small communities.

The first to speak on the topic of INSATS was Ralph Marcuccilli, the organization’s vice president and treasurer. Transportation, he explained, is critical to the nation’s economy and quality of life. INSATS seeks to develop a system where small airports are utilized because demand for travel is growing faster than capacity allows.

Marcuccilli noted that commuter travel is “pent-up” and many more people would travel if it was more convenient.

“Hub airports are nearing capacity limits,” he said. “SATS (small aircraft transportation systems) is about going to the next level.”

Marcuccilli saw his priority as readying to help communities prepare for the future and introduce them to the advantages of the program.

Ray Wabler, an INSATS technical consultant, shared Marcuccilli’s sentiments and brought up an idea that may be more relative to the city of Greensburg: airport modernization.

“Now is the time,” Wabler said. “The transportation system must change. What we still need to do is get the airports ready.”

Flight delays in 2007 cost the country more than $15 billion, he added. Future next generation airports are a way to address the problem, including an automated airport portal that would reduce the need for around-the-clock staff.

“We’ve done a lot to bring the cost down,” Wabler said. “The key thing is that would cost less than half a million dollars.”

INSATS economic advisor Morton Marcus took Wabler’s and Marcuccilli’s ideas a step further. China’s booming economy, Marcus said, was largely a result of the decline in transportation costs that are the major factor in globalization.

“You can give the local business community the opportunity to participate in the activities of the world when you give them low cost transportation,” Marcus explained. “Real economic development is an increase in the choices that are available to people.”

Economic feasibility was Marcus’s focus.

“We need to get the message out that this is something for the whole community,” he said. “There is a tremendous demand we have that we don’t think about. It makes sense, being able to go to Chicago in less than half the time it would take to drive.”

A more technologically advanced airport would get Greensburg connected to the world, and everyone in the community stands to gain so much, Marcus said.