Airport Authority CEO Urges Legislature to Support Detroit Region Aerotropolis

LANSING, Mich.--(Business Wire)--
The proposed Detroit Region Aerotropolis offers a unique development opportunity
worthy of statewide support, Wayne County Airport Authority CEO Lester Robinson
urged state leaders today in Lansing.

In testimony provided before the Michigan House of Representatives
Transportation Committee, Robinson acknowledged Aerotropolis opponents` concern
that the legislature`s special consideration of the Aerotropolis would
necessarily hamper development elsewhere in the state, but clarified that, "The
Aerotropolis does not compete with our core cities because its development focus
is not the same."

"I understand that some communities worry that Michigan`s core cities and
communities will be unable to compete with the Aerotropolis for new development.
This assumption is false because what the Aerotropolis will attract are
businesses that desire to operate next to a major, international, hub airport,
which no other community in Michigan is ready to offer," Robinson added.

Robinson further asserted that the presence of two major airports-Detroit Metro
and Willow Run-just seven miles apart with plenty of developable land in between
not only positions Metro Detroit to lead the State`s economic resurgence but
gives Michigan a competitive advantage against other Aerotropolis developments
nationwide.

The Aerotropolis, or "airport city," is a concept pioneered by John Kasarda,
Dean of the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise and Professor of
Entrepreneurship at the University of North Carolina, which suggests that as air
travel has overtaken roads and shipping as the primary avenue of global trade,
new urban cores have the potential to form around major international airports
the way they once did on the banks of rivers, and later, around roads and
highways.

Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano has made the development of the Detroit
Region Aerotropolis a central focus of his Administration frequently citing the
jobs and economic opportunities such a development would bring.

Aerotropolis-type developments have already been successful in Europe and Asia,
as well as near Dallas/Ft. Worth, Louisville and Memphis area airports. Robinson
also pointed to a similar development underway near Chicago`s O`Hare
International Airport that has been constrained by the airport`s inability to
expand-placing Detroit, with its existing airfield capacity already surpassing
Chicago, at a competitive advantage for airport-centered development.

The Airport Authority, which was created by the State Legislature in 2002, is an
independent entity responsible for the operation of both Detroit Metro Airport
and Willow Run Airport. Although the Airport Authority is prohibited by federal
law from funding development outside of the airport proper, it nonetheless
recognizes its central role of providing the airport core that makes such an
Aerotropolis possible.

Having welcomed more than 35 million passengers in 2008, Detroit Metro Airport
is the busiest airport in Michigan and among the world`s largest air
transportation hubs. DTW is the second-largest hub for the world`s largest
airline, Delta, and offers non-stop service between Southeast Michigan and more
than 160 destinations around the globe.

Having secured its place in history by the critical role it played in the
mobilization effort for World War II, Willow Run Airport now serves an equally
critical role as a major air cargo and general aviation facility. A study
conducted by the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 2005 estimated the combined
two airports` statewide economic impact to be upwards of $7.8 billion and as the
basis for more than 74,000 Michigan jobs.

"If given the support by the State Legislature that it deserves, one can only
begin to imagine the potential a Detroit Region Aerotropolis would have to fuel
economic development across Michigan," said Robinson.

For a copy of Robinson`s complete testimony, visit www.metroairport.com.

Wayne County Airport Authority
Michael Conway, 734-942-3558
or
Scott Wintner, 734-955-3745

Copyright Business Wire 2009