In the latest monthly address to the Aero Club of Washington in Washington, D.C., the - Chicago Department of Aviation Commissioner Rosemarie S Andolino gave a keynote presentation this week to a sold-out crowd of about 200 attendees at the Capital Hilton Hotel. The speech, entitled "Investing in Airports During Tough Economic Times: Chicago Leads the Way" called on policymakers and industry officials to seek long-term answers to airport funding and infrastructure needs and encouraged all aviation stakeholders to work together for the collective good of the US aviation, tourism and travel industries.
The presentation also included an overview of many accomplishments and milestones reached at O'Hare and Midway International Airports, including the extensive progress made on the O'Hare Modernisation Program (OMP) that is reconfiguring O'Hare's intersecting runways into a modern, parallel configuration to increase the airport's efficiency and capacity - and securing its position as a cornerstone of the national and global aviation systems.
“Airports are a significant part of our nation’s economy. Our commercial airports account for more than 8 per cent of national GDP and employ nearly 10.5 million people – in Illinois, aviation accounts for 4.3 per cent of our state’s GDP,” she explained. “However, we all need to do more to stay competitive and thrive in the global marketplace. Many of our nation’s airports need financial and regulatory flexibility. We cannot do it alone. Tough choices need to be made and we need further investment to strengthen our airports for our nation’s cities and for the regional and national economies to prosper in the future.”
According to Andolino there is a need to stop the practice of aviation stakeholders lobbying Congress and opposing each other’s initiatives and instead develop and embrace a national aviation policy where everyone can come together, look at the issues creatively and collectively, to build consensus among all stakeholders. “Instead of opposing each other, let’s find some common ground. Our global competiveness depends upon it,” she said.
“We need to reform the way airports are financed: remove the cap on the PFC for airports that are willing to forgo their AIP entitlement dollars. We should allow for a pilot program to include the top ten to 15 airports. I join many airport operators in encouraging Congress to allow airports to determine PFC rates rather than continuing to cap those fees at levels they’ve been at for 12 years,” she added.
Andolino, who was appointed Commissioner in 2009, is responsible for the management and operation of O'Hare International Airport (ORD) and Midway International Airport (MDW). O'Hare is the second-busiest airport in the world with more than 875,000 operations and nearly 67 million passengers in 2011. Midway, also known as the world's busiest square mile, is the nation's premier value-fare airport for point-to-point service. There were more than 255,000 operations and 18.8 million passengers at Midway in 2011, a seven per cent increase over 2010.
She is also charged with implementing the OMP. Under her leadership since 2003, three major projects have been completed on the OMP, including a new runway, an extension to O'Hare's busiest runway and a new air traffic control tower. All three projects opened on or ahead of schedule, and nearly $40 million under budget.
To gain more information on airport investment decision make sure you sign up for the second Invest & Manage Airports conference that takes place at Stamford Bridge, the home of Chelsea Football Club in London on October 18th and October 19th. For more information on the event, including the growing number of high profile speakers that have signed up to present at the event, click here.
Related Content
