CHICAGO (AP) -
O’Hare International Airport is falling behind other global hubs as it
grapples with flight delays, gate shortages and a largely humdrum terminal
experience for passengers, Chicago’s new aviation chief warned business
leaders Thursday.
Aviation industry
veteran Ginger Evans told an audience at the City Club of Chicago that the
flipside of being one of the busiest airports in the world is that O’Hare is
also leading the way in flight delays. Among major U.S. airports, O’Hare
consistently ranks last or near the bottom for on-time performance.
The airport is in
the middle of a decade-long overhaul of its outdated airfield design, and
Evans stressed that the project must be finished to make O’Hare more
efficient and expand its capacity.
“O’Hare is the only
major U.S. gateway with runways in three directions,” she said of the old
design, which is being reconfigured into a series of parallel airstrips.
In another example
of O’Hare’s backward slide, Evans noted that the airport still can’t
accommodate the Airbus A380, the biggest jet on the market. It has a runway
long enough, but no gate large enough.
“This is one of the
most significant developments in aviation of the past decade,” she said.
“Most U.S. international hubs are now on their second or third round of
building additional 380 gates. What about O’Hare? Zero.”
O’Hare now has
approval for one and will build it next year, Evans said.
The airport is also
trailing the competition when it comes to offering the kinds of high-end
retail, dining and technology that travelers now expect, Evans said.
In media interviews
before the speech, Evans said she would also be looking at options for
adding gates and premium express rail service between O’Hare and downtown.
Evans has 30 years
of experience in engineering and aviation. She helped build Denver’s airport
and helped bring rail service to Dulles International Airport in Washington,
D.C.
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