TheSusquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority (SARAA) is the governing authority of theHarrisburg International Airport,Capital City Airport,Franklin County Regional Airport andGettysburg Regional Airport in south-centralPennsylvania. SARAA was incorporated on September 9, 1997, and officially took over control of the MDT and CXY airports from theCommonwealth of Pennsylvania on January 1, 1998.
SARAA was the culmination of an effort that began in the 1990s by the counties ofCumberland,Dauphin, andYork and the cities ofHarrisburg andYork. The counties and cities placed a major emphasis on air transportation that led to a study of the aviation needs of the region. In 1996, the results of the study led to the formation of the Airport Divestiture Group (ADG, chaired byRobert F. Frazier) to negotiate the divestiture of bothHarrisburg International Airport (MDT) andCapital City Airport (CXY) from thePennsylvania Department of Transportation Bureau of Aviation to an independent regional entity. The recipient of these airports was the Susquehanna Area Regional Airports Authority (SARAA, initially chaired by Frazier) which assumed title to, and operation of, the initial pair of airports (MDT and CXY) on and after January 1, 1998.
In 2004, the Franklin County Regional Airport, located nearChambersburg, Pennsylvania, was bought by the airport authority. SARAA now operates four airports in the greater Harrisburg metropolitan area.[1]
On August 25, 2006, SARAA acquired the Gettysburg Regional Airport (GRA), formerly identified as the Gettysburg Airport and Travel Center. GRA opened in 1926 and had been a privately operatedgeneral aviation service airport. It is located on roughly 47 acres (190,000 m2) just outsideGettysburg,Adams County, Pennsylvania.[2]