The Federal Aviation Administration is prohibiting construction near O’Hare International Airport or changes in air-traffic patterns at regional airports that would interfere with an expanded O’Hare, officials said Monday.
Chicago officials welcomed the developments, while the FAA cautioned the action does not indicate whether the agency will approve the expansion plan when it issues a decision expected late next year.
The FAA review studied how O’Hare’s expansion would affect existing or planned traffic at neighboring airports and the surrounding airspace. It also looked at the city’s proposed airport layout on the safety of people and property on the ground near the airport.
“The review protects the airspace around O’Hare until a determination on the project is completed,” said Barry Cooper, manager of the FAA’s Chicago Area Modernization Program Office.
Chicago aviation officials nonetheless hailed the FAA analysis as validation of their eight-runway O’Hare redesign and as a key step toward approval to start pouring concrete on the almost-$15 billion expansion project.
“What the letter from the FAA signals for the first time is that we have a project that is potentially going to be developed,” said Rosemarie Andolino, city director of the O’Hare expansion project. “It’s important. The FAA is protecting the airspace and controlling what can be built around the airport.”
FAA officials also said their analysis was not designed to address whether the proposed O’Hare modernization would produce enough capacity and efficiencies to increase flights and reduce delays to levels claimed by the Daley administration.
Airline over-scheduling at O’Hare has caused delays to hit record highs this year, causing on-time performance to plummet at airports across the nation. Negotiations between the FAA and 16 airlines to reduce O’Hare flights as a short-term solution entered a second week Monday, but no substantive progress was reported.
Chicago aviation officials say flight capacity would increase to 1.6 million takeoffs and landings a year at an expanded O’Hare, up from about 975,000 flights expected this year, and delays would be cut 79 percent overall and 95 percent in poor weather.
Project critics, who contend adding runways won’t solve O’Hare gridlock, said they want to see the results of pending FAA studies.
The FAA decision will remain valid until Jan. 31, 2006, the agency said. FAA Administrator Marion Blakey has voiced support for O’Hare expansion and planned construction of a third regional airport. The FAA review also took into consideration airspace requirements for the proposed south suburban airport near Peotone, said FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro.
Part of the FAA’s review is focused on how well the reconfigured airfield would operate in regard to delays at specific flight volumes and weather conditions. Computer simulations for the FAA concentrate on various stages of the expansion project–2007, 2009, 2013, and when the airfield is fully rebuilt in 2018 under the city’s construction timetable.
Earlier computer modeling conducted for the city showed unacceptably long delays in certain conditions well before flight levels reached 1.3 million, sparking questions about the benefits of the project in light of the high costs.
Former FAA officials hired by Bensenville and Elk Grove Village to challenge O’Hare expansion said more studies will confirm the city’s plan doesn’t add up.
“The FAA is saying planes would be able to fly into and out of an expanded O’Hare safely. But no one has shown that O’Hare could handle the 1.6 million flights claimed by Chicago, what the level of delays would be and how they are going to deal with the limitations imposed by congested airspace,” said J.E. Murdock, a Washington-based aviation consultant working for the two northwest suburbs.
