"Chicago Mayor Celebrates Airport Redevelopment, Dismisses New Plan"

Wednesday, June 9, 2004

Chicago Mayor Celebrates Airport Redevelopment, Dismisses New Plan
The Chicago (IL) Tribune


Mayor Richard Daley on Tuesday marked the completion of the $927 million
redevelopment of Midway Airport, shrugging off the possibility of
competition from a new field in Peotone that got a green light for
master planning the day before.

Daley in the past has been dismissive of the feasibility of a south
suburban airport so far from the city, and he refused to dwell on
Peotone at a ceremony at Midway that put the spotlight on a makeover
that transformed a decaying and outmoded terminal into a modern
facility.

Asked for his reaction to the Federal Aviation Administration's decision
to allow the state to forge ahead with planning at Peotone, the mayor
replied, "That's all right. It doesn't hurt ..."

"I just worry about Midway and O'Hare," he said. "I don't worry about
all the other things."

The new 941,000-square-foot Midway terminal complex has a ticketing and
baggage claim area that is connected by an enclosed walkway over Cicero
Avenue to new passenger concourses. Aircraft gates now total 43, up from
29 in the old terminal, which was built in 1945. There are 20 elevators,
an increase of 19.

The redevelopment, at Cicero and 57th Street, is "one of the most
important projects in our city's history," Daley said.

Work proceeded with relatively little fanfare after the project started
about eight years ago as public attention focused on the controversy
that swirled around the mayor's attempts to expand O'Hare International
Airport.

"Most of us can remember 20 or 30 years ago when this was practically a
ghost airport, with only a handful of scheduled flights," Daley said at
a news conference at Midway. "Today it's serving 18 1/2 million
passengers, almost twice as many as when we began construction ... It's
one of the fastest growing airports in the nation."

The capacity of the revamped Midway is 25 million to 30 million
passengers annually, said city Aviation Commissioner John Roberson.

A six-level parking garage, part of the redevelopment, will be joined by
an additional facility in the parking-tight complex in 2006. The second
garage will have 6,300 spaces.

Officials of Southwest Airlines and ATA Airlines, Midway's biggest
users, hailed the project and dumped cold water on the prospect of a
south suburban field.

"I am not concerned because we are not going to Peotone even if it's
built," said Southwest Chairman Herb Kelleher.

"If we ever get to a point where O'Hare cannot handle any more traffic
and the same happens to Midway ... that's when you look for expansion,"
said George Mikelsons, ATA's chairman. "But right now I think it would
be a ludicrous and fruitless exercise to do that unless you happen to be
in the real estate business in Peotone."

In authorizing a Peotone master plan, the FAA agreed with a state
forecast that the south suburban airport would generate a minimum of
17,000 takeoffs and landings in its first year of operation.

Illinois Transportation Secretary Tim Martin asserted that the FAA
action supports the state's position that market demand exists and that
a Peotone airport would be viable.

On a related front, Daley said that recent revelations that O'Hare's
taxiways cannot handle a new Airbus Industrie jumbo jet is one more
illustration of the need for his proposed O'Hare expansion project.

"You have to be able to expand airports, you have to be able to
modernize airports," Daley said. "You can't live in the past. You
constantly have to change."

The Airbus A340-600, currently the world's longest aircraft, measures
246 feet, 11 inches.


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