Chicago US$56m upgrades

Chicago’s two main airports, O’Hare International and Midway International, have been awarded US government grants totalling more than US$56.5m for improvement projects.

The bulk of the money,US$45m, is going to O’Hare for projects forming part of the airport’s long-running modernisation plan and includes US$20m to fund general work on runways and supporting taxiway systems. 

The other US$25m is for Phase 2 of the development of the airport’s 11,245ft runway and reimbursement for Phase 2 of the 7,500ft runway.

Midway has been awarded one grant of US$11.7m to fund the rehabilitation of its 4,747ft runway to “maintain structural integrity and minimise debris”.

Illinois senator Dick Durbin said the grants were crucial to ensure passenger safety and would help to address the problem of prolonged runway waiting times.

As of last year, O'Hare was the world’s fourth busiest airport based on passenger traffic. It also has the most runways (eight) of any major international airport. Its largest airlines are United and American.

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