Despite a national financial crisis and continued high fuel prices, American airport officials don't expect capacity issues to go away. President Bush is expected to sign a six-month extension to the Airport Improvement Program construction grants program but officials are closely appraising privatization models such as that expected at Chicago's Midway Airport.
The annual Airports Council International-North America conference, held in Boston Sept. 21-24, also hosted members of ACI World. Some 2,000 delegates representing 49 countries attended but the financial collapse gave an extra edge to discussion about privatization. “The rest of the world is pretty much a private model,” said Randall Walker, outgoing ACI-NA chairman and director of Clark County (Nev.) Dept. of Aviation.