The Florida Keys Marathon Airport (KMTH) question remains on ballot.

The Marathon City Council brushed aside conspiracy allegations Tuesday in giving final approval to a voter referendum asking whether residents support commercial air service to Florida Keys Marathon Airport and are willing to pay for it.

Former council candidate Allen Pedersen-he ran in 2008-argued against residents being taxed for air service and accused Monroe County Director of Airports Peter Horton and other county officials of purposefully keeping air carriers out of the Middle Keys. The county owns the airport.

Pedersen said that Delta Air Lines and AirTran Airways "would love" to fly larger aircraft into Marathon than they can to Key West International Airport because of runway length restrictions. He argued flying larger planes is more economical for the airlines.

Pedersen went on to say that Horton - with "marching orders from above" - didn't comply with numerous requests by Delta to make its short-lived service to Marathon more safe and economical. Delta left the Middle Keys after five months.

"Peter Horton wanted Marathon to go away and [to] push everything else down to Key West," he said.

Horton told the Keynoter he's reviewed the written statement Pedersen provided council members and local media and said, "It is full of inaccuracies and distortion of the facts."

He said Pedersen incorrectly states the amount of extra runway available in Marathon, the ease by which the Federal Aviation Administration would approve using it, the type of jets Delta and AirTran fly to Key West and that Delta flights were diverted from Key West to Marathon because of weight or weather concerns.

"We know of that happening not one time," Horton said of diverted flights.

Vice Mayor Dick Ramsay openly dismissed the accusations about Horton and challenged Pedersen to find an airline willing to serve the Middle Keys if its runway were extended. It's already 208 feet longer than Key West - 5,008 feet versus 4,800 feet.

"Whether or not there's some conspiracy to put airlines into Key West, I don't buy into that," Ramsay said. "I see no reason to modify the proposed question."

The vote was unanimous to place a non-binding referendum on the Jan. 31 presidential primary ballot asking voters if the Monroe County Commission should "actively pursue" commercial airline service to and from a mainland airport, and whether they'd support a special taxing district to help pay for it.

http://www.keysnet.com
http://www.airnav.com/airport/KMTH