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"Meigs, ATA training center plans advance"

Friday, February 1, 2002

Meigs, ATA training center plans advance
By Gary Washburn
The Chicago (IL) Tribune


The Chicago City Council's Aviation Committee today advanced one measure
to ensure continued operation of Meigs Field, and another to help clear
the way for construction of a long-awaited American Trans Air training
center near Midway Airport.

If the full City Council approves, the city will continue to lease
Meigs' site from the Chicago Park District under a month-to-month
agreement, pending passage of federal legislation to solidify a December
accord between Mayor Richard Daley and Gov. George Ryan.

The Daley-Ryan deal would ensure Meigs' future operation and allow
expansion of O'Hare International Airport. Under that pact, the little
airfield on the lakefront would remain open until at least 2006 and,
possibly, far beyond. 

The city's lease on Meigs is due to expire Feb. 10. The month-to-month
agreement is expected to be replaced with a longer-term lease after
Congress acts, said Thomas O'Donnell, assistant aviation commissioner. 

But even with the airport's future assured, O'Donnell could not say
whether the city plans to invest in projects to improve its efficiency.
Meigs advocates have called for a variety of equipment and airfield
upgrades.

The ATA measure would let the city use proceeds from up to $15.5 million
in airport revenue bonds to acquire 26 acres of vacant industrial
property at 71st Street and Cicero Avenue. 

The city plans to lease most of the site to ATA for a $100 million
center to train pilots and other airline employees, as well as for a
hotel and stores. About three acres would be used as relief parking for
Midway, just north at 63rd Street and Cicero. The training center would
have about 100 employees, and the project would generate roughly 1,000
construction jobs, officials said.

In other action, the committee approved a measure to let the city buy
out the lease of a cargo operator at O'Hare, making way for construction
of the new Terminal 6, part of the airport's World Gateway development.


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