Scott Fitzgerald: “This is absolutely one of the bright spots on the aviation picture in Illinois today, one of the issues on which we hope…”

“This is absolutely one of the bright spots on the aviation picture in Illinois today, one of the issues on which we hope to agree. It is one of the wonders of the world, in my judgment, that Rockford is not being used right now when it is so close to O'Hare. It is an easy answer, in my judgment, to alleviating traffic congestion at O'Hare. I wish to point out a few things. In addition, there are 740,000 people living and working within 25 miles of Rockford Airport. Beyond that, there are 2.2 million people living within a 45-minute drive of Rockford Airport. There are probably not that many large cities in this country that would have that many people within a 45-minute drive of their airport. Another point I have not made is that over 400,000 airline passengers a year depart from Rockford's market service area via bus to access the air transportation system at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Both American and United Airlines, which control almost all the operations at O'Hare, run several passenger shuttle buses to the Rockford Airport every day and funnel from there 400,000 passengers a year into their hub operation at O'Hare. That further congests O'Hare. In addition, I am told 800,000 people a year drive their cars from the Rockford area to get to O'Hare.”