AOC Aon Corp.

The 747 was the first to turn heads CHICAGO, March 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aviation history is repeating itself with the Airbus A380's U.S. tour, according to an Aon Aviation expert. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20041215/CGW049LOGO ) Aon Aviation President Wayne Wignes says the marketplace changes posed by Airbus' new jumbo jet are almost identical to those presented in 1969 when Boeing rolled out its 747. "People forget there were other jumbo jets then, too," he said. "The L-1011 and DC-10 were also coming on the scene at the same time. But neither presented the challenge the 747 did for the industry in 1969. Nearly 40 years later, the same can be said of the A380. It's a revolution for the aviation industry." Wignes says the A380 presents significant new liability exposures for all of Airbus' service providers. "If action or inaction by a service provider is ever found to be the direct or indirect cause of an incident with the A380, the liability would be immense," Wignes said. "Underwriters would be aware of that and it would be reflected in insurance pricing." The nation's airports may also not be enthusiastic about the new aircraft, he says. "Most airports don't have the gate space for a plane with a wingspan the length of a football field," he says. "Even those airports that can accommodate the aircraft would have to expand their jetway facilities to deal with an influx of A380s. Airports all over the world would be looking at a significant capital expenditure if and when the A380 enters the market." Wignes says there's another parallel with 1969. "Back then most observers felt the 747 was a 'bet-the-company' decision for Boeing. Many experts are saying the same thing now about Airbus." About Aon Aon Corporation ( http://www.aon.com/ ) (NYSE:AOC) is a leading provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, human capital and management consulting, and specialty insurance underwriting. There are 43,000 employees working in Aon's 500 offices in more than 120 countries. Backed by broad resources, industry knowledge and technical expertise, Aon professionals help a wide range of clients develop effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions. For more information contact: Al Orendorff 312.381.3153 This press release contains certain statements related to future results, or states our intentions, beliefs and expectations or predictions for the future which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from either historical or anticipated results depending on a variety of factors. Potential factors that could impact results include: general economic conditions in different countries in which we do business around the world, changes in global equity and fixed income markets that could affect the return on invested assets, fluctuations in exchange and interest rates that could influence revenue and expense, rating agency actions that could affect our ability to borrow funds, funding of our various pension plans, changes in the competitive environment, our ability to implement restructuring initiatives and other initiatives intended to yield cost savings, our ability to execute the stock repurchase program, our ability to obtain regulatory or legislative changes to permit continuous sales of our supplemental Medicare health product, changes in commercial property and casualty markets and commercial premium rates that could impact revenues, changes in revenues and earnings due to the elimination of contingent commissions, other uncertainties surrounding a new compensation model, the impact of investigations brought by state attorneys general, state insurance regulators, federal prosecutors, and federal regulators, the impact of class actions and individual lawsuits including client class actions, securities class actions, derivative actions, ERISA class actions, the impact of the analysis of practices relating to stock options, the cost of resolution of other contingent liabilities and loss contingencies, and the difference in ultimate paid claims in our underwriting companies from actuarial estimates. Further information concerning the Company and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect the Company's financial results, is contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20041215/CGW049LOGO http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Aon Corporation CONTACT: Al Orendorff of Aon Corporation, +1-312-381-3153, Web site: http://www.aon.com/

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