a. Any public use privately owned airport in this Commonwealth, or any improvements made thereto, which is open to the public at no charge and which has been licensed by the Department is hereby declared to be a work of internal improvement.
b. The governing body of any city, town or county in this Commonwealth is authorized to exempt from local taxation, as an inducement to their location, the runways and taxiways of any privately owned, public use airport, which is available to the public at no charge and which has been licensed by the Department.