Bill Staehle, administrator of the Gary/Chicago Airport, couldn’t resist the opportunity earlier this week to say construction of a third Chicago-area airport near Peotone, located about half way between Chicago and Kankakee, would be a waste of money and “good farmland.”
Speaking before the City Club of Chicago, the airport administrator said Gary/Chicago, to which the Chicago Aviation Department contributes about $3 million annually, could be offering passenger service to many more locations by the end of the year. The airport, with the city’s help, launched passenger service in November.
Currently, the reborn Pan Am Airways offers service to airports near Orlando and Boston. On Monday it will add service to Pittsburgh and is in discussions to offer service to Atlanta via Illinois’ current white elephant airport, the St. Clair County-owned Mid America Airport.
That airport, located 30 miles east of St. Louis’ Lambert International Airport, cost taxpayers $315 million in state and federal funds and has yet to see a commercial flight since opening more than two years ago.
Staehle also said Gary/Chicago could soon be adding service by Jet Blue Airways, a start-up serving the New York City market.
He should have added that Illinois doesn’t need to waste hundreds of millions of dollars on another white elephant.
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A new Delta: Delta Air Lines, headed by former Chicagoan Leo Mullin, announced this week that it is so well-known that it is dropping the Air Lines from its logo. This is the same Mullin who brought Chicago the $3 fee for seeking a live teller at the First National Bank of Chicago, which since has been acquired twice and is now known as Bank One.
Now, the Atlanta-based airline will simply be known as Delta.
“This reflects the airline’s confidence in the strength of its brand, and the fact that most customers refer to the airline as Delta,” the carrier said in a statement issued Wednesday.
“We saw the positive effect of presenting a softer visual image and capitalizing on the single word Delta as one of the airline world’s most recognized brands,” said Fred W. Reid, Delta’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer.
We wonder whether airline officials checked with Delta faucets about the plan.
Railway fight escalates: Saying the federal Surface Transportation Board has exceeded its authority by imposing a 15-month moratorium on railroad mergers, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway and the Canadian National Railway Co. have asked the board to suspend imposition of the moratorium while a federal judge considers a lawsuit filed by the two challenging the decision.
In its filing, Canadian National argues that that the board is “protecting competitors in an anti-competitive fashion.” Canadian National and Burlington Northern Santa Fe announced in December plans to merge their two railroads.
A merger could improve service in the Chicago area and reduce the amount of time trains block streets and wait to get into the 27 area rail yards.
New officers elected: Joan Geary, general manager of the Oak Lawn Hilton Hotel & Conference Center, has been elected chairman of the Hotel-Motel Association of Illinois. Other newly elected officers are: Michael Cohen, senior vice president of Bricton Group Inc. in Park Ridge; Rob Steigerwalk, area general manager of the Chicago Marriott Downtown; and Sean Shannon, general manager of the Radisson on John Deere Commons in Moline.
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