City of Chicago Mayor, Rahm Emanual has announced that Chicago Midway International Airport is heading for a huge investment plan and expansion project.
Expanded concession areas, a new security hall, an extended pedestrian bridge and 1,400 additional premium parking spaces are all part of the ambitious $248 million expansion plan – the most money invested into the airport in nearly a decade.
“Midway is more than an airport. It is an important economic engine for the City of Chicago so with this modernization we are making an essential investment in the future of Midway but also the future of Chicago,” said Mayor Emanuel.
The city is planning to kick off the project in September by issuing a request for proposals for a single-entity concessions operator, all designed to enhance the airport experience for travellers, as well as creating well paid jobs for residents in the area.
Expansion and upgrades of the airports facilities will address the concerns raised by business and tourist travellers, as well as strengthen the city’s economy.
“These enhancements will create jobs for Chicago’s residents, provide an improved experience for travellers from the garage to the gate, and ensure that our world class city has two world class airports,” Major Emanuel added.
Under the project, concession areas, shops and restaurants will be renovated while shopping, dining, lounge facilities, spa services and medical services will be added.
A new 80,000 square foot security hall will be created to address the “bottleneck” that frequently occurs in the current security area.
Chicago Department of Aviation, who administer all aspects of both Chicago Midway and Chicago O'Hare hosted the 20th World Route Development Forum last year, and hope to see a great economic impact from the major investment to Midway, which is expected to result in 1,700 construction and concession jobs, and a fifty percent increase in concession space. By 2019, revenue from concessions is projected to double, increasing revenue for the City of Chicago.
"Our proposal will make Midway Airport more efficient and more customer friendly for years to come," Chicago Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans said. "In order for our airports, and our city, to thrive we need to remain competitive - and that's what this plan will achieve."
Between September and December, the program will receive bids, before evaluating them during the first quarter of 2016. The proposal is tentatively scheduled to go before the Chicago City Council next spring.
Midway is one of the fastest growing airports in the United States, generating approximately $7 billion in economic activity annually and 90,000 jobs for the region.
Southwest is Midway’s largest airline carrier, and Midway is Southwest’s largest market. The airline has dramatically increased its presence at the airport, with available seat capacity reaching almost 12 million in 2014, up from 8.7 million in 2005.
Delta has fluctuated over the past ten years in terms of capacity, increasing its presence at Midway between 2005 and 2010, before gradually reducing the overall seat capacity until 2014, though still remains the second largest carrier at Midway. Both Frontier Airlines and AirTran have taken a similar stance to Delta, initially upping capacity in the second half of the noughties, before dropping available seat capacity again before 2014.
Both Porter Airlines and Volaris both arrived at the airport in 2010, and have since gradually increased capacity from Midway. American Airlines hasn’t served Chicago’s secondary airport since 2006, presumably transferring all of its traffic to Chicago O’Hare.
Midway is primarily served by regional and low-cost carriers, and is strongly dominated by Southwest Airlines.
The overall departure capacity trends at Midway mirror the trends of carriers such as Frontier and AirTran, both of which reduced capacity between ~2008 and 2012.
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