Scott Fitzgerald: “another issue I have been concerned about and Congressman Jackson and Congressman Hyde have been concerned about for a…”

“another issue I have been concerned about and Congressman Jackson and Congressman Hyde have been concerned about for a very long period of time is that we have two airlines that have 87 percent of the aviation market at O'Hare. Those airlines are United and American. I applaud the hard-working employees of those airlines. I have a great deal of respect for them. They have been through a very difficult fall. But one of the issues I am concerned about is that there is not adequate competition on long-haul flights to Chicago. We have some competition coming out of Midway Airport, and very good competition from great airlines, ATA and Southwest. It is difficult to do long-haul flights because the runways are so short. I thought it would be preferable to build a third airport because that would provide new entrants in the Chicago aviation area and an opportunity to compete with United and American. A GAO study commissioned by Congress a couple of years ago said monopoly overcharges at Chicago's O'Hare Airport--additional fees that consumers of air travel in the Chicago area pay that result from monopoly conditions at O'Hare--amount to $623 million a year.”