"Leading discount carriers say 'hell no' to Peotone airport"

Wednesday, June 9, 2004

Leading discount carriers say 'hell no' to Peotone airport 
By Guy Tridgell
The Chicago (IL) Daily Southtown


The top executives at two of the leading discount carriers, Southwest
Airlines and American Trans Air, emphatically declared Tuesday they have no
interest in flying out of an airport near Peotone. 

They would be surprised if any airline showed interest. 

"Hell no," said George Mikelsons, the ATA founder and chairman. "It would be
a ludicrous and fruitless exercise unless you happen to be in the real
estate business in Peotone."

The opinion is shared by Herb Kelleher, the chief executive at Southwest,
the biggest tenant at Midway Airport and perhaps the most popular airline
flying. 

"I'm not concerned because we're not going to Peotone," Kelleher said. "It
is sort of like, 'Hell no, we won't go.'"

Kelleher and Mikelsons appeared at Midway Airport with Mayor Richard Daley
to commemorate the end of the eight-year, $927 million project to rebuild
the Southwest Side landmark.

The appearance came a day after the Federal Aviation Administration approved
flight forecasts showing the need for a new airport, even with the bigger
Midway and the proposed expansion of O'Hare International Airport. The FAA
decision gives the green light to the Illinois Department of Transportation
to start the critical step of devising an airport master plan.

But Mikelsons said the distance between Chicago and the proposed airport
site - about an hour's drive from the Loop - will doom the project. He added
that O'Hare and Midway have enough room for years to accommodate any demand
from the south suburbs for another airport.

"Why would anyone drive out to Peotone when they can get a flight out of
Midway or out of O'Hare?" Mikelsons said. "It would be served by one or two
or three tiny airlines. If you want to connect with someone and connect to
someplace else, you would have to drive to Midway or O'Hare anyway.

"It doesn't make any sense."

The two airline chiefs brushed aside suggestions a new airport would
threaten the success at the Chicago airports.

But Southwest has a stipulation in a lease with the city that allows the
airline to leave Midway if flights are capped to encourage more traffic at
another facility. The lease also can be voided if money generated at Midway
is used to support a new airport.

ATA has similar provisions in its lease with the city.

Supporters of the south suburban airport said they were unfazed by the snub
from Southwest and ATA, saying there are plenty of other low-cost carriers
looking to serve the Chicago area. 

"No airline in this country has supported a new airport in 50 years," said
an aide to U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-3rd) of Chicago. "It is no
surprise that ATA and Southwest would be uncomplimentary toward the south
suburban airport. It is competition."

O'Hare and Midway have struggled with congestion in recent months as air
travel returns to the levels before Sept. 11, 2001. 

Midway has been especially busy. 

Chicago aviation commission John Roberson said about 18.5 million travelers
pass through the Southwest Side airport each year. That number will reach 25
million to 30 million in five to 10 years, he said. 

"We are already ahead of projections," Roberson said. 

The redevelopment project expanded the number of gates from 29 to 43,
attached a customs facility for international flights and added the first
parking garage in the 78-year history of the airport. The work finished on
time and on budget, officials said. 

Daley recalled when Midway Airlines folded in 1991 and the airport was left
for dead.

"I once called Midway the comeback kid of airports," Daley said. "Look
around today, Midway's story seems more like Cinderella."


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