FAA: 2004 was record year for takeoffs and landings at O'Hare, with nearly a million
4 January 2005

CHICAGO (AP) - O'Hare International Airport handled nearly a million takeoffs and landings in 2004, more than any other airport, but it is running behind perennial rival Atlanta for the top spot in number of passengers, officials said.

A surge in regional flights pushed the number of takeoffs and landings at O'Hare to 992,471 last year, a 6.6 percent increase over 2003, the Federal Aviation Administration said Monday.

"The numbers prove the vitality of the Chicago market and that air travel at O'Hare continues to thrive," Chicago Department of Aviation spokeswoman Kristen Cabanban said.

Regional jets accounted for more than 40 percent of the approximately 2,850 daily flights at O'Hare, up from less than a third, or 33 percent, of all flights three years ago, officials said.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport came in second, with 962,460 takeoffs and landings in 2004, according to the FAA.

But Hartsfield was on pace to handle the most passengers in 2004. Through October -- the latest data available -- Hartsfield accommodated 65.8 million passengers, and O'Hare handled 63.5 million, according to the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Final numbers on 2004 passengers will not be available until February.

Hartsfield and O'Hare have run neck-and-neck in recent years for the title of world's busiest airport.

According to Airports Council International, London's Heathrow Airport is the busiest in terms of passenger traffic outside the United States. It had handled 51.1 million passengers through September 2004, the latest numbers the non-profit association had available.

FAA says other airports can't relieve O'Hare delays
By NICOLE ZIEGLER DIZON
Associated Press Writer
14 January 2005

CHICAGO (AP) - Diverting planes to nearby airports won't reduce delays at O'Hare, according to a government report that Chicago officials hope will help speed their plans for expanding one of the nation's busiest airports.

The Federal Aviation Administration's draft environmental study released Thursday raises no red flags over the city's proposal to add runways and reconfigure existing ones at O'Hare. It also discounts several alternative proposals for reducing delays.

Among those alternatives was a plan that called for greater use of airports in Milwaukee, Rockford and Gary, Ind.

"It doesn't meet the criteria of handling all the growth that's going to come at O'Hare in the coming years," FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro said Thursday.

Molinaro stressed that the city's plan is not a shoo-in yet. The FAA has scheduled public hearings on its environmental study next month and is slated to release a final report in July that could include recommended changes.

The FAA's decision on O'Hare expansion is expected in September.

"We're very happy with where we're at in this process," said Rosemarie Andolino, executive director of the city's O'Hare Modernization Program.

Andolino said she expects the FAA will approve the city's $15 billion plan, and contractors will be ready to break ground immediately. The plan calls for opening the first new runway in 2007, with the project due to end in 2013.

The FAA report found that the number of people affected by high noise levels would slightly increase after expansion -- from about 22,000 in 2002 to 24,000 in 2018. The new runway configuration would mean less noise to the northwest and south and more for suburbs east and west of O'Hare, Molinaro said.

Air pollution would also increase slightly with more planes coming into the airport, although it would still fall within levels accepted by the government, the report said.

The report compared the city's runway plan to two others devised by FAA experts and found it would reduce delays the most in the long run. The city says overall delays would plummet by 79 percent once the runways are built.

Joe Karaganis, an attorney for communities and churches opposed to expansion, said the FAA report was designed to pave the way for approval of the city's plan. He accused the agency of discarding other alternatives -- including the use of regional airports -- without truly studying them.

"The FAA has been cooking the books on this thing all the way along," Karaganis said.

Karaganis argues the city won't be able to get the bonds and passenger fee increases required to fund the project. He also says the city has not backed up its contention that delays would decrease, and lawsuits over moving cemeteries in the path of the new runways could stop the project altogether.

:eek2: 1 Million flight movements! THAT'S INSANE!!!! But also good. :)

FAA releases report that could speed expansion of O'Hare airport
By NICOLE ZIEGLER DIZON
13 January 2005

CHICAGO (AP) - The Federal Aviation Administration released a draft environmental study Thursday that raises no red flags over Chicago's $15 billion plan to expand O'Hare airport to reduce delays.

City officials hope the report will help speed their plans for the project.

The plan calls for longer and wider runways and taxiways, new terminals and parking spaces for oversize jets and passenger jet bridges. The airport handled nearly a million takeoffs and landings in 2004, more than any other airport.

The FAA report discounts several alternative proposals offered by opponents to reduce delays, including diverting planes to nearby airports.

The FAA has scheduled public hearings on the study next month, and its final decision on the expansion is expected in September.

"We're very happy with where we're at in this process," said Rosemarie Andolino, executive director of the city's O'Hare Modernization Program.

Joe Karaganis, an attorney for communities and churches opposed to expansion, said the FAA report was designed to pave the way for approval of the city's plan. He accused the agency of discarding alternatives without truly studying them.

"The FAA has been cooking the books on this thing all the way along," Karaganis said.

FAA proposes extending O'Hare flight reductions by 3 years
23 March 2005

CHICAGO (AP) - Federal officials want to limit the number of flights coming into O'Hare International Airport for three more years to help reduce delays that can affect flights around the country.

Since November, airlines at O'Hare -- the nation's busiest airport based on total flights -- have voluntarily reduced flights to 88 an hour between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m., down from a maximum of more than 130 an hour. That agreement, which was to expire April 30, has already been extended through October.

On Tuesday, the FAA proposed a federal rule that would extend the flight limits until April 2008, when O'Hare might be able to handle more flights, the FAA said.

"While we are working hard to add capacity throughout the system, we need to make sure in the interim that O'Hare schedules don't exceed what the airport can handle," FAA Administrator Marion Blakey said in a statement.

The FAA is expected to decide in September whether to approve a proposed $15 billion expansion of O'Hare that would add two new runways and reconfigure others. If the plan is approved, a new runway could be finished by late 2007, allowing more flight arrivals, FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro said.

If the FAA rejects O'Hare's expansion plan, a three-year reduction in flights would give the agency more than two years to figure out other ways to add capacity at the congestion-prone airport, Molinaro said.

Since the voluntary flight reductions took effect, on-time arrivals at O'Hare have improved by 17 percent and overall delay minutes have been cut 22 percent, the FAA said.

The FAA said keeping the flight limits in place three more years would cut delays at O'Hare 42 percent. The agency would review delay information every six months to see if the airport could handle more flights.

Representatives of the airport's two busiest carriers -- UAL Corp.'s United Airlines and AMR Corp.'s American Airlines -- objected Tuesday to part of the rule that would give new or small carriers the first chance to add flights if O'Hare's capacity increases over the three years.

"We have stepped up to help out, so we feel we should be the first to be made whole when there is new capacity available," United spokesman Jeff Green said.

American Airlines spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan said the carrier has voluntarily reduced its flights into O'Hare by more than 13 percent since November. She said American and United should be the first to take advantage of extra capacity.

Airlines and others will have the opportunity to comment on the proposed rule to extend the flight reductions before the FAA makes a decision, Molinaro said.

Building a better O'Hare
> Chicago expansion plan hits stiff opposition, in contrast to Atlanta

> By BOB KEEFE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
> Published on: 04/05/05

Chicago — Paul Clausius doesn't fly much, maybe three or four times a year. But when he flies, he knows to expect delays. That's because he usually flies from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

"We're always delayed by at least a half-hour here," Clausius said while waiting on a recent Delta Air Lines flight — late by 50 minutes — to Wyoming to visit family members. "This airport just can't handle all the traffic."


Chicago has a multibillion-dollar plan to attack that congestion by expanding and reconfiguring O'Hare — a plan that may sound familiar to fliers in Atlanta, where Hartsfield-Jackson International is hard at work on a new runway and terminal to ease congestion.

But unlike Hartsfield-Jackson, which has been largely unopposed in its plan, O'Hare is meeting stiff resistance. Some of the airport's neighbors are fighting hard to block expansion, a campaign that could influence future plans at other major airports.

Today, O'Hare is the busiest airport in the world in terms of flights, although Hartsfield-Jackson is No. 1 in total passengers. O'Hare also is the worst big airport for delays. Last year, a record 30 percent of all flights into O'Hare arrived late, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

When weather is bad in Chicago, the percentage of tardy flights is even worse, transforming the airport into what many locals and frequent fliers unaffectionately call "Camp O'Hare."

To try to fix the airport's problems — and potentially ease congestion at airports nationwide that feed into it — Chicago this year plans to start a massive project to add an eighth runway and reconfigure old ones.

Plans also eventually call for a new terminal, new roads and other additions.

Hartsfield-Jackson has four runways and is building a fifth. Unlike O'Hare's, all of them are parallel, the configuration that allows the highest utilization.

City officials claim the improvement program, a pet project of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, will cut bad-weather delays at O'Hare by 95 percent and overall delays by nearly 80 percent.

Just as important, they say, it will keep major airlines from shifting connecting flights to other big hub airports, such as Hartsfield-Jackson and Dallas-Fort Worth International.

Nearly 60 percent of O'Hare's flights are connections to other cities, and fees from all those takeoffs and landings are a big source of revenue.

"O'Hare is an economic engine," said Rosemarie Andolino, executive director of the O'Hare Modernization Program. She said it contributes nearly 450,000 jobs and $38 billion a year to the Chicago economy, and "we have to keep the engine running."

Yet critics claim Chicago's improvement plans are designed not to improve air travel, but to generate profits for city contractors and solidify Daley's political power.

"We keep looking for some nugget in the manure that shows this is a good project, but all we see is that it's about who's going to get the contracts" to manage and build the improvements, said Joseph Karaganis, a lawyer who represents some residents who would be affected.

Opponents also say the city has been dishonest about the potential cost, which is estimated at $6.6 billion to start and nearly $15 billion eventually. And they claim the city is overstating potential benefits, pointing to outside studies that show with the added traffic expected, delays at O'Hare will be just as bad when the renovations are complete in 2013 as they are today.

On the other hand, they say that if financial problems at Chicago-based United Air Lines and other carriers that serve O'Hare continue, the airport could find itself stuck with big bills for new runways and terminals that aren't needed.

City officials are undaunted. They're quick to point out that they meet often with neighborhood groups and have wide support.

The only thing stopping them, they say, is the Federal Aviation Administration's approval of an environmental impact statement needed to start the project, which is expected by September. In her office, Andolino has a clock counting down the seconds to the anticipated start of construction.

Opponents say the chances of the project starting in September are as likely as a flight leaving O'Hare on time in the middle of a blizzard.

Already, a lawsuit has been filed seeking to stop the city from taking over cemeteries the expanded O'Hare would displace. Opponents claim other lawsuits are being prepared that will seek to stop construction on the grounds that the environmental and health dangers far outweigh any benefits of increased flights.

The need for the O'Hare improvements "is all a myth and a huge taxpayer rip-off," said Jack Saporito, who runs the Alliance of Residents Concerning O'Hare.

His group advocates moving connecting flights from O'Hare and other big airports to smaller, underutilized airports. It also wants the government to look at other ways to improve national transportation.

"The whole [airport system] is unsustainable," Saporito said. "And what affects my airport affects your airport. If we triple flights here, they'll be tripled at your airport, too."

Other groups, led by Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), support building a third major airport south of Chicago to ease O'Hare's congestion, an idea they say would cost a fraction of Daley's proposals. Chicago already has a second commercial airport, Midway.

Saporito said the controversy over O'Hare's plans is indicative of a growing wariness over airport expansions nationwide.

While the expansion plans at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson have sparked little public opposition, other communities with growing airports are watching what happens at O'Hare to see how the FAA weighs environmental and community concerns against a city's determination to expand.

Susan Gouinlock, an Atlanta area attorney who represents neighbors fighting potential expansion of DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, said concerns over O'Hare's plans are in some ways similar to the concerns of her clients.

"There's commerce and people out there who want to expand aviation everywhere," Gouinlock said.

"But there's a balance," she said. "And there's a growing number of us concerned that the balance is not being struck appropriately."

Long-debated plan for a third Chicago-area airport gains traction
By MIKE COLIAS
7 May 2005

CHICAGO (AP) - State officials see a gold mine in the cornfields 40 miles south of downtown Chicago: a commercial airport that would inject thousands of new jobs into the economically depressed south suburbs and help unclog the skies over O'Hare International Airport.

While there has been talk of a third Chicago-area airport for almost 20 years, the latest plan has taken wing thanks to private money and the support of Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. and Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Blagojevich late last month gave federal aviation officials a blueprint for a single-runway, five-gate airport near the small town of Peotone.

Many aviation experts, however, are skeptical the airport would draw the interest of airlines or passengers. They point to other small airports -- some closer to the Chicago than Peotone, such as one in Gary, Ind. -- that have tried in vain for years to steal passengers away from busy O'Hare and Midway airports.

"If there's such a huge demand for a new airport, why aren't airlines and passengers flocking to Gary or Rockford?" asked Denver-based airline consultant Michael Boyd.

Boyd says he sees parallels between the Peotone proposal and MidAmerica Airport, 20 miles east of St. Louis in Mascoutah, Ill., which has been a colossal bust since it opened in 1997. It drew just 7,800 passengers last year despite original forecasts of more than a million by 2005.

Even so, many observers say an airport at Peotone has a good shot at getting built for one reason: political will.

The resurgence of the third airport concept is credited largely to boosterism from Jackson, who has made it his pet project for a decade. It got another boost in January, when Blagojevich endorsed Jackson's airport plan in his State of the State address.

Jackson touts Peotone as the nation's first privately funded airport; two developers last year pledged $200 million to open it. He says the airport, which eventually would expand to four runways and 12 gates, would be tailor-made for discount carriers such as JetBlue.

"It's the fastest, cheapest and safest way to address Chicago's aviation capacity crisis," said Jackson, who represents Chicago's south suburbs.

Most state and federal lawmakers who represent the area want the airport, although a political battle is simmering over what entity would control it: Jackson's coalition of 32 south suburban municipalities or the government of Will County.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, long thought to oppose a third airport over fears it could pose a threat to Midway and a proposed $15 billion expansion of O'Hare, has expressed indifference about Peotone lately.

"Go ahead and build it," Daley said at a recent news conference.

But whether the airport will fly with the public is up for debate.

"I don't believe we're anywhere near the point of needing another major facility for the Chicago area," said Aaron Gellman, a professor at Northwestern University's Transportation Center. "It's politically driven."

Analysts point to the growth in traffic at O'Hare and Midway as proof that passengers aren't interested in an alternative. Takeoffs and landings at O'Hare have increased since 2000, to 968,000 last year. Flights at Midway are up 24 percent over that period, to 280,000.

And smaller airports are positioning themselves to capitalize now on the congestion, which could mean competition for a future airport at Peotone.

"There is a third airport. It's in Gary," said Paul Karas, manager of Gary/Chicago International Airport. The facility, 15 miles closer to downtown Chicago than Peotone, received federal approval in March for a $90 million expansion.

Greater Rockford Airport, about 85 miles northwest of Chicago, this week began offering twice daily service to Detroit on Northwest Airlines.

Even General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee has marketed itself as "Chicago's Third Airport" for years. It's making a stronger pitch with a new Amtrak station that receives seven trains daily from Chicago.

While the FAA has agreed with the state's projection of nearly 14,000 flights a year at Peotone within six years of its projected opening in 2009, many Illinois business and political leaders say the only real solution for Chicago's clogged aviation system is expanding O'Hare.

"We need to fix O'Hare at O'Hare," said FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro.

The O'Hare expansion is a huge, controversial proposal for an airport that logged the worst on-time performance in the nation last year. The plan would add two new runways, reconfigure others and build new terminals. It is still under FAA consideration, but Molinaro said the FAA decision, due in September, will have no bearing on its eventual decision on Peotone.

Regardless, the city's chronically congested skies can only bode well for Peotone's future, says Joseph Schwieterman, an aviation expert at DePaul University.

"Our air-travel system is splitting at the seams," he says. "That makes the outlook much more favorable for a scaled-down airport like Peotone."

On the Net:
http://www.southsuburbanairport.com/