Rhode Island needs another Bruce Sundlun.

The former governor may have been controversial, and sometimes hardheaded. But he staked out positions, refused to bend, and got things done. Remember his decisions in 1991 to close the failed banks and credit unions, or his layoffs of state workers to dig the state out of a budget hole during the recession.

Sundlun showed the same dogged determination when he saw that the state needed a new airport. He foresaw the emergence of regional discount airlines and, using his experience in business and aviation, put in place a politically unpopular and expensive plan to build a new terminal at T.F. Green. He spent political capital, put together a coalition (that included labor leaders who wanted the construction jobs) and made it happen.

His vision was realized when Herb Kelleher, the chairman of Southwest Airlines, was persuaded to use Green as its regional hub for New England. Green’s reputation changed from a backwater airstrip to a modern, regional transportation hub. Passenger traffic doubled in four years, to 5 million. That gave a boost to the Rhode Island economy.

I’m reminded of that history now, because 10 years after Sundlun’s plan took shape, T.F. Green Airport is in trouble.

As reported last Sunday by Journal staff writer Benjamin Gedan, the number of passengers who use Green is falling as airlines cut back on flights and switch to smaller jets. Airport revenues, for the first time this decade, have tailed off.

Airport officials have responded by making improvements in the retail stores in the terminal and raising a variety of fees to cover operational expenses. That has raised a protest by Southwest, the biggest carrier at Green with more than half of all the passengers who use the airport.

What’s worse is that nobody from business, academia or government has stepped up to plan and lead the next stage of the evolution of Green. Nobody is showing any vision. The latest executive director, Mark Brewer, is leaving after an unremarkable tenure, for a similar job at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, where there seems to be fewer headaches and more public support for expansion. There is frequent turnover and no consistent leadership on the board of the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, which directs policy.

Governor Carcieri seems bogged down in laying off state workers and cutting social services to balance the state budget. Green never comes up in his speeches. The pro-expansion Go Green Alliance, set up in 2004 with Bryant University President Ronald Machtley and Hasbro chairman Alan Hassenfeld as co-chairmen, has all but disbanded. At this year’s annual business dinner run by the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, the state’s largest business lobbying group, the airport didn’t get mentioned on its list of priorities.

It isn’t for a lack of pressing issues.

One improvement planned for Green that would help generate new business, but which has been mired in debate for eight years, is the extension of a 7,166-foot runway.

Its short length restricts the availability of transcontinental flights and trips to European destinations east of Dublin and London. Leisure and business travelers have clamored for years for those services.

The Federal Aviation Administration has made two proposals, an 8,700-foot expansion and a 9,350-foot option.

But the vacuum of business and government leadership has left local opponents of airport expansion to shape the debate. Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian has lead the opposition, arguing the extension would require the demolition of houses, displacement of businesses, and cuts in city tax revenue, and would create environmental, safety and noise problems.

Nobody is making the business argument that an extended runway would attract new companies and lead others to expand. Direct cross-country flights and others overseas create a business advantage for companies that compete in a global economy. Green has a great location with easy access off Route 95 and only a short drive to Providence. It’s also in the middle of the economic corridor between Boston and New York. But when business travelers, tourists, customers, clients, vendors, contractors, professors, lecturers, prospective students and their parents look at the flight options at Green, they don’t find enough of what they need..

All those people, especially those from out of state, bring commerce and money to Rhode Island. It would start to flow here, and quickly, if the state found advocates for expansion at Green.

At a time when job growth is slow and the economy is stagnant, and the focus is on stopgap efforts to dig the state out of a financial mess, there also needs to be long-term plans. That effort will generate economic future growth based on the state’s resources that give it an advantage.

For that to happen, Rhode Island needs leaders.

Bruce Sundlun’s name is on the terminal at T.F. Green.

But he’s not available. At 87, he’s the governor-in-residence at the University of Rhode Island who’s taking a year off from teaching to write his memoirs. It’s up to his successors to live up to his legacy.

For more information on the challenges facing Green Airport, read the Biz Blog at projo.com/business.

John Kostrzewa is the Journal’s business editor. Send email to him at jkostrze@projo.com