The purpose of this project is to study the role of a regional airport authority and to determine if such an authority would be an advantageous vehicle for the City of Chicago to expand air transportation capacity. In addition, cities which have annexed land to build airports will also be studied to determine how development was controlled around the airport in order to allow for future expansion and increase in the number of flights.
Initial criteria used to select airports and authorities were the following: recently expanded or constructed airports (Denver, Kansas City and Dallas-Fort Worth); multi-jurisdictional authorities (all cases except Kansas City); and authorities reputed to function well (Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Kenton County Airport Board and Kansas City).
Case studies on airports and airport authorities were peformed in order to address the following questions:

1) How are they structured, specifically what is their board membership?
2) What are their powers?
3) How successful are they in allocating the costs and benefits of the airport (i.e., jobs, revenue, noise, and development)?
4) Do different structures have differential (dis)advantages?
Based on the conclusions from the case studies the recommendations for the City of Chicago are as follows:

1) Board representation should be proportional to financial contribution.
2) O'Hare, Midway, Meigs and the third airport should all be under one authority.
3) Chicago might want to lease its airports to the authority instead of selling them.
4) The authority needs to have the following powers: issuing bonds, zoning, eminent domain, and acquisition of property or property rights.
5) There is a need for comprehensive land use planning that is adhered to over the long term.