**New Airport Will Keep Chicago Tops in the World**

*10 Reasons Why South Suburban Airport Means Business*

By Congressman Jesse L. Jackson Jr.

October 1, 2003

Please dispel any preconceived notion you might have about a third
airport. The latest plan offers a dramatic paradigm shift that, quite
frankly, deserves the blessing of anyone concerned about Illinois'
economic future.

According to two expert airport developers, a scaled-down South Suburban
Airport (SSA) built through an innovative public-private partnership is
far more economical, practical, viable and necessary than anyone
realized.

First and foremost, it can be built without public expense and without
public risk. Modeled after successful airports in Europe, Asia and South
American, the phase one SSA could be financed exclusively with private
capital at a cost several hundred million dollars less than previously
predicted.

Second, it poses no threat to O'Hare or Midway. Far from the four-runway
mega-airport first proposed, this modest one-runway, five-gate airport
was designed under the assumption O'Hare was expanded. Despite its small
size, the third airport is large enough to create 15,000 new permanent
jobs in an area that desperately needs them.

There are many more reasons why Chicago's conscientious business and
civic leaders should enthusiastically embrace this latest concept.

\* The public-private partnership brings together the best of both
worlds - local governance and control, with private enterprise and
experience.

\* SSA gives Chicago another port-of-entry for low-cost carriers.
Low-cost carriers are an increasingly popular and rapidly growing
segment of aviation. They depend on airports which have costs at or
below \$10 per passenger and which are designed for quick aircraft
turnaround times. O'Hare will never be a low-cost airport. Midway is a
successful low-cost hub but is nearing capacity. If Chicago expects to
expand opportunities in this growing market, it needs another airport.

\* The consultant-developers who studied SSA are proven world-class
airport builders. Among only a dozen firms in the world with such
expertise, LCOR and SNC-Lavalin own and operate airports in Paris, New
York, Vancouver and Malta. These consistently rank among the world's
most cost-effective and consumer-friendly, catering mostly to cargo,
low-cost and international travelers.

\* The airlines will come. These companies have longstanding relations
with dozens of airlines. They know the business. They know the carriers.
And they are confident enough to invest their own considerable money on
this airport because they know the airlines will come.

\* A privately financed airport can give direct benefits to local
communities. Because this plan uses no federal dollars, airport revenues
can pay for off-airport improvements, such as local roads and
infrastructure, an industrial park, even schools. Airports built with
federal funds cannot take revenues off-site.

\* SSA's "common use" terminal is cheaper and friendlier. SSA's gates
would be owned by the airport, not the airlines. This new way of doing
business means airlines share gates, check-in/baggage counters, etc.
This greatly reduces the carrier's overhead costs and improves customer
service because passengers no longer walk past 15 empty gates to get to
a plane; they use the first open gate.

\* SSA actually helps O'Hare because it won't compete for federal money.
Because this uses no public funds, it won't compete with O'Hare for
limited federal dollars. (As for the state, SSA will reimburse the state
\$75 million for the land it owns near University Park.)

\* Small but agile growth pattern. No one can credibility claim this
airport threatens O'Hare or Midway. SSA will be sized specifically to
complement - not compete with - those airports. Its modest five-gate
modular design and just-in-time expandability allows SSA to grow slowly
and to serve what otherwise would be excess capacity lost at O'Hare and
Midway.

\* Again, SSA assumes O'Hare expansion. It succeeds by attracting
low-cost carriers that will stimulate new demand among the Southland's
2.5 million residents.

\* Finally, this plans addresses the potentially thorny issue of
governance by handing control to the new South Suburban Airport
Authority, comprised mostly of mayors from Will and South Cook counties.
These mayors oversee all the planning, development and operations from
day one.

The question every business and civic leader must ask is this.

Can Illinois afford to say "no" to hundreds of millions in private
investment - again, cost-free and risk-free to the public - that creates
15,000 permanent new jobs in a depressed area during a recession, and
which also resolves a decades-old stalemate over how to add capacity to
Chicago's constrained aviation market while preserving the region as air
travel hub of the world?

I think not.

If someone has a better plan, let's hear it. If not, let's support this
golden opportunity so that the Southland can prosper and someday provide
a better quality of life for those who need and deserve it - our
children.

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