Every year, 400,000 people who live and work near the Greater Rockford Airport board a bus for a 75-minute ride to O’Hare International Airport when they need to fly.
Their hometown airport is built to handle 1 million passengers a year, but last year it served only 32,000.
And there are other airport wallflowers in the Chicago region. Just 30 minutes from downtown Chicago, Gary-Chicago Airport in Indiana is begging for passengers. Milwaukee’s General Mitchell International Airport accommodates 600,000 passengers yearly from Illinois, but it could serve even more.
Collectively, these airports should play a vital role in easing congestion at O’Hare. Each has runways long enough to accommodate planes larger than those that can land at Midway Airport. And each has a blueprint for expansion that could make them bigger players in solving the region’s air travel troubles.
Even without expansion, Gary and Rockford together could absorb as many as 380,000 passenger and cargo flights a year. They offer the commodity of capacity, but lack any airlines willing to tap that resource.
United and American officials say it doesn’t pay to divert some O’Hare flights to secondary airports like Milwaukee, Gary or Rockford because passengers can’t connect to other flights they operate. They also argue they would have to duplicate staff and infrastructure already at O’Hare: ground crew and baggage handlers, ticket agents and computer reservation systems.
“We’re not going to do anything that damages our hub,” said Peter McDonald, senior vice president of airport services for United.
Both airlines serve the Rockford market by agreements with bus lines that run passengers daily from southern Wisconsin and north-central Illinois to O’Hare. That’s cheaper for the airlines.
“It’s just the economics of the situation,” said Mary Frances Fagan, spokeswoman for American Airlines.
By charging the airlines higher landing fees for using O’Hare, those economics would change, likely jumpstarting demand for passenger service at Gary and Rockford.
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Higher landing fees also would translate into higher passenger fares. If prices went high enough, demand for air travel could drop sharply enough to force airlines to shift service to Gary or Rockford, where airport officials could drastically reduce landing fees for airlines, or even waive them altogether, said Aaron Gellman, former director of Northwestern University’s Transportation Center.
“Unless Chicago-area passengers are provided with incentives to switch to the secondary airports, the airlines will continue to serve only O’Hare and Midway because that’s where the action is.” said Richard Golaszewski, a consultant working with Gary and Chicago officials to market the Gary airport.
Of all the ways to move flights out of O’Hare to other airports, these are the best:
– Ban the more than 27,000 corporate and private planes that used O’Hare last year. Those flights could be reassigned to general aviation airports in the region, or to Gary, Rockford or Midway.
– Divert cargo flights to Gary or Rockford, which already serves as a major cargo hub. Those flights generally operate during overnight hours at O’Hare, but those that take off or land during the day or evening should be banned.
– Force charter services to use other area airports. O’Hare handled 190,000 charter and small commuter flights last year, 20 percent of the airport’s total flights, FAA officials said.
At Gary-Chicago Airport, 7,000 feet of runway, a 15,880-square-foot terminal, a car rental service and Brandon Fox’s concession stand serve one airline and one flight–PanAm’s service that on alternate days flies either non-stop to Sanford, Fla., near Orlando or stops at MidAmerica Airport near St. Louis before continuing to Sanford.
“It’s a bit of a challenge,” said Fox, when asked what he does between 8 a.m., when his stand opens and early afternoon, when passengers begin to arrive. “Basically I just get things ready for the customers coming in. Socialize a little bit.”
Officials at both airports have been trying to lure low-cost carriers, but they stand a better chance if those carriers were allowed to receive subsidies under the federal government’s Essential Air Services program.
The program, used by 82 U.S. airports, was created in 1978 to guarantee that small-town America would not lose air service after the deregulation of the airline industry. A carrier’s operations could be subsidized by as much as $900,000 annually. That money could help a commuter airline such as American Eagle pay for everything from staffing gates and ticket counters to pilot salaries.
However, the federal government would have to change the program’s rules so that small airports near metropolitan regions could qualify. Aides for Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said last week that the senator would consider pushing for the rule change.
A few airlines have already tried passenger service out of Rockford; one by one they pulled out. Express One Airlines’ flights to Minneapolis were, on average, 85 percent empty, said Rockford’s airport director, James Loomis. On June 1, Northwest Airlink discontinued its three daily flights to Detroit, leaving the airport without a single passenger flight. It now is mainly a cargo hub.
But there are indications that the region’s major airlines will respond if low-cost carriers begin posting successes at those airports and cutting into their markets. Three months after American Trans Air began non-stop service in 1999 between Midway Airport and Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport, American, which had pulled out of Midway in the late 1980s, launched its own Midway to Dallas-Ft. Worth service.
American and United also might listen carefully to the rave reviews passengers give about the ease of using Gary and Rockford, where parking is a breeze and delays are rare.
“I’m tickled to death with it–to not have to go to Chicago,” said Vicki Mantel of LaPorte, Ind., who was flying from Gary to see her father in Florida. “It’s real nice. Convenient.”
Unlike Gary and Rockford, Milwaukee’s General Mitchell International Airport, about a 45-minute drive from the Lake Forest oasis on the Tri-State Tollway, already serves as a reliever airport for O’Hare.
Only two of the airfield’s five runways can accommodate jets, though airport officials have received FAA approval to construct a third passenger-service runway, expected to be ready sometime between 2007 and 2015.
But there’s room for more flights right now, said Barry Bateman, the airport’s director.
Chicago-area travelers who use Mitchell praise the airport’s Midwest Express airline, which serves red wine with dinner and meals on china. They say they don’t miss the frenzy that defines many flying experiences at O’Hare.
“Once you get to O’Hare, you have to figure out where you’re going to go, where to park your car–and it’s a real hassle,” said Celia O’Brien, a teacher from Crystal Lake. She was at Mitchell booked on a 3:25 p.m. flight to Boston last week to visit her brother, who found her a round-trip fare for $252. Fares out of O’Hare were $300 or more, she said.
Tapping into the region’s airports
O’Hare and Midway handled more than 75 percent of the takeoffs and landings occurring at these regional airports in 2000. The region’s other airports have runways and terminals that can accommodate large jets, but most of these facilities lack the backing of major carriers to jump-start their passenger or cargo business.
Comparing airport operations in 2000
Takeoffs and landings by type of aircraft*
General aviation: Recreational planes, business jets, others
Air taxi: On-demand flights, small cargo carriers
Air carriers: Large jets (cargo or passengers)
O’Hare: 908,977
Midway: 298,137
Mitchell: 221,855
Rockford: 89,807
Gary: 52,832
*Small number of military flights included.
GREATER ROCKFORD
Home to a major UPS facility in the U.S. but no longer served by a passenger carrier. The terminal could be expanded and a third runway could be added.
FACILITIES
Runways: 2 (longest is 10,000 feet)
Passenger carriers: 0
Cargo carriers: 4
ACCESS TO CHICAGO’S LOOP
Distance by car: 86 miles (1 hour, 30 min.)
DISTANCES TO OTHER CITIES
Elgin: 50 miles (57 min.)
MIDWAY AIRPORT
A new terminal and garage were recently completed, but current plans do not include runway expansion.
FACILITIES
Runways: 5 (longest is 6,522 feet)
Passenger carriers: 14
Cargo carriers: 1
ACCESS TO LOOP
Distance by car: 11 miles (20 min.)
By rail: CTA Orange Line (30 min.)
DISTANCES TO OTHER CITIES
Elgin: 40 miles (59 min.)
Joliet: 31 miles (53 min.)
Gary: 31 miles (53 min.)
PEOTONE PLAN (Proposed first phase)
FACILITIES
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Runways: 1 (12,140 feet)
Carriers: To be determined.
ACCESS TO LOOP
Distance by car: 45 miles (52 min.)
By rail: Potential for passenger rail service has been explored.
DISTANCES TO OTHER CITIES
Naperville: 55 miles (1 hour, 21 min.)
Orland Park: 31 miles (41 min.)
GEN. MITCHELL/MILWAUKEE
The airport is expanding parking capacity and adding six gates. It also is working with the FAA to build a third commercial runway.
FACILITIES
Runways: 5 (longest is 9, 690 feet)
Passenger carriers: 17
Cargo carriers: 6
ACCESS TO LOOP
Distance by car: 85 miles (1 hour, 30 mins.)
By rail: An Amtrak station is planned to open in late 2003.
DISTANCES TO OTHER CITIES
Deerfield: 58 miles (1 hour, 5 min.)
O’HARE INTERNATIONAL
Reducing delays and adding capacity would involve building up to two runways and improving four.
FACILITIES
Runways: 7 (longest is 13,000 feet)
Passenger carriers: 52
Cargo carriers: 22
ACCESS TO LOOP
Distance by car: 17 miles (25 min.)
By rail: CTA Blue Line (40 min.)
Metra North Central (30 min.)
DISTANCES TO OTHER CITIES
Elgin: 26 miles (36 min.)
Joliet: 42 miles (1 hour, 6 min.)
Waukegan: 34 miles (44 min.)
Gary: 48 miles (55 min.)
GARY
Current expansion plan includes lengthen-ing runways and new gates. Another runway and terminal could be added.
FACILITIES
Runways: 2 (longest is 7,000 feet)
Passenger carriers: 1
Cargo carriers: On Demand
ACCESS TO LOOP
Distance by car: 27 miles (32 min.)
By rail: South Shore Line (50 min.)
DISTANCES TO OTHER CITIES
Homewood: 19 miles (27 min.)
Merrillville, Ind.: 17 miles (27 min.)
Source: Airports, Federal Aviation Administration and Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, MapQuest
baiduhai/Melissa Nagy Deegan and David Jahntz
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A TRIBUNE SPECIAL SECTION: SOLUTIONS TO GRIDLOCK
Clearing the air
A blueprint for solving the crisis in U.S. air travel
THE PROPOSALS
Add runways at O’Hare
Plan for 2, build at least 1. Perspective, Page 3
Create an air authority
1 team could marshal strengths of all region’s airports. Perspective, Page 3
Streamline air traffic control
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FAA must react faster to change. Perspective, Page 5
Reduce overscheduling
Higher fees may open arteries. Perspective, Page 6
Greenlight Peotone
Yes to 3rd airport if the math works. Perspective, Page 7
Tap the regional airports
Down the road, airfields offer hidden capacity. Perspective, Page 8