Results tagged “midway”

As if we needed more reasons for delays out of our bustling airports ahead of the holidays. An FAA computer glitch cause nation-wide delays this morning, including at Midway and O'Hare. As of around 9 a.m. this morning, the Trib reported minimal delays at both Chicago airports (averaging 20 to 30 minutes) and the AP was reporting the glitch had been resolved. But AirTran has already been forced to cancel almost 40 flights due to the glitch and other residual delays can be expected. A quick scan of the FAA's flight delay site shows the worst of the delays confined to the East Coast but, as always, check with your specific airline before heading out the door.

Travel deal mega-site Orbitz has some news for you: O'Hare is going to be really, really busy at Thanksgiving and you should fly out of Midway instead. Of course, chances are you already knew that. And, given the way prices for Thanksgiving are almost twice as expensive as any other weekend of the year, chances are you booked well in advance and you're either stuck with O'Hare or Midway already. But in the event you've waited til the last minute (seriously, Thanksgiving is two weeks from today! Don't disappoint Mom!), Orbitz thinks Midway is the better option.

Need a flu shot but find yourself too busy at this time of year to stop by a clinic? Well, now you could get one while you wait for your flight back home for Thanksgiving. The city will be offering kiosks at both Midway and O'Hare where flu shots will be available for $35 through the end of the year. [WBBM]

With Mayor Daley's budget on the table and things looking grim financially for the next several years, it's natural to wonder what other city assets Daley will sale as he dips into the parking meter lease cash to help cover the 2010 budget gap. The Sun-Times Fran Spielman runs down for us what could very well be up for sale next, including another run at privatizing Midway. Daley's tried to do it before. The 99-year, $2.5 billion deal was set up by the mayor and approved by the City Council, but the deal floundered as the economy did. Another run at this deal with any number of companies wouldn't be a surprise. Spielman suggests he could also try to do the same kind of deal with O'Hare, which would bring in even more money, but roadblocks could drag out such an attempt.

We don't enjoy starting our mornings by having a downright hissy fit, but reading the Sun-Times story on Mayor Daley's planned speech in which he'll allegedly admit he made a mistake with the infamous parking meter deal is throwing us into a hulk-out rage. Know why? Well, for starters:

Mayor Daley's dream of privatizing Midway Airport has run into trouble as the nation's credit crisis has pushed the deal back at least six months, if not indefinitely. The April 6 closing date for the deal has been canceled, while the privately owned Midway Investment and Development Company, LLC, or MidCo for short, tries to line up more financing for the deal. The city is negotiating with the consortium backing MidCo is made up of Citigroup (yes, that Citigroup) unit Citi Infrastructure Investors, YVR Airport Services Ltd and John Hancock Life Insurance Co. to line up financing for the $2.52 billion 99 year lease deal.

Mayor Daley addressed the media Wednesday evening in his typically candid fashion, taking on lazy city workers, "shovel-ready" projects for the pending federal economic recovery bill and criticism from Fith Congressional District candidates over his plan to privatize Midway Airport. Defending his sell of off city assets, including Midway, Daley said city workers are "clock watchers" who don't care about customers. "They're not customer-related. They're gonna leave at 5 o'clock. They're gonna leave at 4:30 or 4:00. I'm sorry. We're on a time clock. They walk out. But, in the private sector, when you have a customer, you're gonna stay there making sure they're happy and satisfied," Daley told the press. "We can't compete with the private sector. The private sector has a complete idea of who your customers are. Government doesn't have customers. They only have citizens."

Traffic at O’Hare crawls to its lowest since 1994, which isn’t great news considering the City of Chicago is spending about $15 billion to modernize the airport by 2014. The FAA released data this week showing incoming and outgoing flights were down last year to 881,566 at O’Hare and 266,341 at Midway, the worst for that airport since 1997.

The FAA's final approval of the City of Chicago's deal to privatize Midway Airport has been delayed. In September, the city leased Midway to Vancouver-based YVR Airport Services Ltd for 99 years at $2.5 billion. The FAA is still hashing out some of the financial agreements and YVR says the deal won't be finalized until April. The FAA, on the other hand, insists the work will be done before then. Given the fact that YVR manages 18 airports, it should have no trouble proving to the FAA it is capable of handling one more.

Through Wednesday, we're counting down the top 8 local stories that captivated us in 2008.

After an icy day and foggy night that saw hundreds of flights canceled, the transportation mess is slowly beginning to untangle itself this morning. Both O'Hare and Midway have seen some cancellations this morning, mainly stemming from "out of position" aircraft due to yesterday's extensive cancellations. Still, both airports were reporting few delays. Be sure to call ahead to your airline to check the status of your flight before heading out this morning. Not that you'd do much better driving today with all the flooding.

Photo by trippchicago