EDITORIAL: Make Gary's airport soar

Now that a new strategic plan has been prepared for Gary/Chicago International Airport, it's time to pick up the pace of the airport's development.

The study by Landrum & Brown -- the same aviation consultants used by Chicago's two major airports -- needs to be examined closely, then not be allowed to gather dust.

The study makes a number of recommendations, but the key is to get the runway expanded, improve facilities and attract business.

Lengthening the railway requires relocating the Canadian National Railway. The Gary/Chicago Airport Authority and the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, both of which paid for the report, need to aggressively pursue the FAA-approved plan for a permanent solution, just as the new report recommends.

That's top priority, as Dan Muscatello points out. Muscatello headed up the airport strategic plan project for Landrum & Brown. "If the runway extension isn't in place, this plan is just a paperweight," Muscatello said.

Also urgent is attracting commercial air traffic. The recommendation on how to accomplish this is perhaps the most important recommendation in this report.

Landrum & Brown recommends pursuing leisure charter airlines as the airport's core business. That allows the airport to find its niche without trying to compete with O'Hare International Airport or even Midway International Airport.

The Chicago Department of Aviation, which runs O'Hare and Midway, has said it would like to help get charter flights to use Gary so landing slots and gate space could be freed up at Midway and O'Hare.

The leisure charter business is a good place to start in building the airport's steady stream of commercial business.

Attracting this business would put Gary in the position of becoming the Chicago area's third major airport, the ultimate prize in the airport sweepstakes. Airlines already working with O'Hare and Midway would more easily see Gary as part of the Chicago airport system despite being across the state line.

The need for success at this airport cannot be overestimated. It could be boon not just to air travel for passengers from Northwest Indiana, the South Suburbs and much of Chicago south of the Loop, but also to the region's economy.

The Airport Authority and the RDA need to work together to make sure this plan's most urgent recommendations are implemented so the airport can finally turn into the economic engine it is expected to become.

Your opinion, please

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