The Federal Aviation Administration is considering imposing a cap on daily flights in and out of O’Hare Airport, and one county official is hoping to use that move as an opportunity to promote progress on the South Suburban Airport project.
Fox 32 reported Wednesday, March 4, that airlines’ projection of more than 3,000 flights per day was deemed too many by the FAA, which proposed to cap daily flights at 2,800.
Cook County 6th District Commissioner Donna Miller, who is running for the U.S. House 2nd District seat, held a news conference Thursday, Feb. 5, to propose state and regional elected officials use the moment to spur action on the development of the South Suburban Airport.
She said the new airport would solve the problem leading to the FAA’s proposed flight cap, the finite airspace available for one of the world’s busiest airports.
“For years, those of us who support a South Suburban Airport have repeated the Federal Aviation Administration’s advice ad nauseam to capture the region’s growing air capacity by building another airport,” Miller said. “Had we heeded the FAA’s warnings more than 30 years ago, we would not be in the position of having the Department of Transportation ordering O’Hare to cap the number of flights coming in and out of the world’s busiest airport.”
Miller has long been among the south suburban elected officials and economic development leaders advocating for the development of the airport on state-owned land at Bult Field in Will County.
One of her opponents in the 2nd District race, Jesse Jackson Jr., was an early advocate for the project when he served in Congress from 1995 to 2012.
Miller said the groundwork, including most of the land purchases and environmental studies, have been done.
“All we need is political will. Until now, politics was the problem, but today it can be the solution,” she said. “We can start planning for the good of the region.”
She called on Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, and south suburban mayors and managers to form a regional authority to coordinate the creation of a public-private partnership to develop the airport.
Pritzker’s office has not yet responded to email seeking comment on Miller’s proposal.
She compared the airport project, which has languished for decades, to the PsiQuantum project on the Southeast Side of Chicago, which took a little more than a year from announcement to groundbreaking. That project is expected to add 150 jobs. The airport, she said, could bring more than 6,300 jobs to the south suburban region.
When asked how rapidly evolving artificial intelligence and robotics tools might impact those job projections, Miller said if elected to Congress, she would support guardrails that would ensure AI is used properly.
“AI is definitely going be a part of all of our future. We just have to know how to utilize it in the best way,” she said. “And there is human capital that needs to go into AI jobs as well. So I look forward to making sure that that’s a part of all conversations around AI.”
She also said she would favor consideration for residents’ needs and interests in the vicinity of the airport. Axios reported Thursday that neighborhood groups near the PsiQuantum facility are lobbying for community benefit agreements that will protect residents from being priced out of their homes by new development in the area.
“You just have to get with the companies early on so that they can build that into their focus,” she said.
Miller was joined at the news conference by Flossmoor Trustee George Lofton, Glenwood Trustee Linnetta E. Taylor and Pastor Lawrence Blackful of Chicago Heights.
