Midway Airport diagram
Chicago Midway International
Airport , also known simply as Midway
Airport or Midway, is an airport in Chicago, Illinois, United States, located on the city's southwest side, eight miles
(13 km) from Chicago's Loop. The
airport's current
IATA code MDW has been
in use since it was implemented in 1949 when Chicago Municipal
Airport was renamed Chicago Midway Airport. It is bordered by 55th
Street, Cicero Avenue (terminal entrance), 63rd Street, and Central
Avenue.
The airport's northern half is within the
Garfield
Ridge community
area, and the southern half is within the Clearing community
area. The airport is managed by the Chicago Airport
System, which also oversees operations at O'Hare
International Airport and Gary/Chicago International
Airport.
Midway is
dominated by low-cost carrier
Southwest
Airlines. AirTran
Airways and
Delta Airlines are
the airport's other major operators. Both the
Stevenson Expressway and
Chicago Transit Authority's
"L" Train Orange Line provide
passengers access to downtown Chicago.
Midway Airport is the
second largest passenger airport in the Chicago
metropolitan area, as well as the state of Illinois, after
Chicago O'Hare
International Airport.
Today,
Midway Airport serves as a focus city for
Dallas-based Southwest Airlines and Orlando-based
AirTran Airways. For over 16 years,
Chicago Midway International Airport had been the main hub for Indianapolis-based ATA Airlines
(ATA), but that service was reduced to four destinations in
November 2007, and was scheduled to end by June 7, 2008 before the
airline filed for bankruptcy in April 2008, immediately
discontinuing all flights.
History
Early history (1923–1962)
Originally named
Chicago Air Park, Midway Airport
was built on a plot in 1923 and consisted of a single
cinder runway that primarily served
airmail services. The site was selected following
the destruction of the
Wingfoot Air Express when it
crashed into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building, killing
thirteen people, and the city decided to close the Grant Park air
strip. In 1926, the
Chicago City
Council leased the land for commercial purposes from the
Chicago Board of Education at a
rate of $1560 per year. On December 12, 1927, Midway was dedicated
as
Chicago Municipal Airport by
Chicago Mayor William H. Thompson, and became known as "Munie"
to many early pilots. The unique one-square-mile footprint of
Midway Airport is due to its connection to the Chicago Board of
Education.
When the state of Illinois was created,
land was divided into townships. Each
township included a one-square-mile
(640 acre) section devoted to education. In most instances,
one-room school houses were located
on this land, the balance of which was farmed to provide funds for
the operation of the school. As township school districts
consolidated, much of this excess land was typically sold for other
purposes. The Chicago Board of Education continued to own the
Midway Airport section and rent it to the City of Chicago for
airport operations until 1982, when an education funding crisis
forced the Board of Education to sell the land to the City of
Chicago for $16 million.
Chicago Midway Airport (formerly
Chicago Municipal Airport) as it looked in 1927
During its first full year of operation in 1928, the airfield was
home to twelve
hangars and four runways, lit
for night operations. Air traffic control was handled by flagmen,
who would be positioned at the end of the runways; they were
responsible for controlling 14,498 flight operations carrying
41,660 passengers that year. The official observation site for
Chicago's weather records was also moved to Midway during that year
from the downtown area and would remain there until it was moved
again, this time to O'Hare, in 1958.
The former Main Terminal entrance
of
Chicago Midway Airport before the
airport's recent expansion project
A new passenger terminal and administration building, funded by a
bond issue, was dedicated in 1931 by
Chicago mayor Anton Cermak, and in the following year Midway
Airport earned the title of "
World's Busiest" with over 100,846
passengers riding on 60,947 flights. Midway held that title for
three decades until O'Hare claimed it in 1961.
In 1941, Midway Airport joined
World War
II efforts because of its long
runways
and mid-continent position. The war years proved to be a boom for
Midway, which saw new construction funded in part by $1 million in
federal monies from the
Works Progress Administration,
and work on additional runways moved forward in 1941 when a court
ordered the
Chicago
and Western Indiana Railroad to reroute tracks in the vicinity
of the airfield. Midway handled a full 25% of the nation's 417,000
passengers during that year.
The
airport was officially renamed on July 8, 1949 by a unanimous vote
in the City Council to "Chicago Midway Airport" in honor of the
World War II Battle of
Midway – not after Midway Airlines, as many
have believed, nor because the airport is located at the west end
of 59th Street (the eastern end of which is part of Chicago's
historic Midway
Plaisance).
Midway saw 3.2 million passengers carried on 223,000 flights during
1949. The number of passengers rose to 3.5 million the next year
and reached a height of 10 million in 1959. This
video of
Chicago Midway Airport in 1954 shows the increase in traffic
that Midway Airport experienced throughout the 1950s. However, by
1959, the airport had proved unable to handle larger aircraft and
higher passenger loads. By 1961, the airport faced a 60% drop in
passenger traffic, largely due to the opening of O'Hare in 1955. In
1962,
United Airlines, the first
major carrier to serve Midway, ceased operations at the airport,
the last remaining carrier to do so during this period of
decline.
Post-O'Hare reconstruction (1963–1993)
By 1967, reconstruction had begun at the airport, adding three new
concourses with 28 gates and three ticket counters, and in 1968 the
city invested $10 million in renovation funds, The funds partly
supported construction of the
Stevenson Expressway, which proved to
be a major route for passengers to the airport, and Midway saw the
return of major airlines during that year, serving 1,663,074
passengers on more than 274,062 flights, aided in part by the
introduction of jets, such as the
McDonnell Douglas DC-9,
Boeing 727, and
Boeing
737, that were capable of using Midway's shorter runways, which
the
Boeing 707 and
Douglas DC-8 could not.
In 1979,
Midway
Airlines began operations, the first to do so after the
Airline Deregulation Act of
1978, and went on to become the flagship carrier at Midway before
ending its operations in 1991. Midway Airlines helped revitalize
the airport and led the way for other discount carriers, who
benefited from Midway's lower costs and close proximity to
Chicago's Loop, to prosper.
Southwest Airlines, which began operations at Midway in 1985, was one
such beneficiary. Three years earlier, in 1982, the City of
Chicago purchased Midway Airport from the Chicago Board of
Education for $16 million.
The
Chicago Transit
Authority displaced the Carlton Midway Inn to open a new
CTA terminal
at the airport on October 31, 1993 for the newly established
Chicago 'L' Orange Line, which
connected Midway to Chicago's Loop.
The CTA's Orange Line connects Midway to
downtown
Chicago via elevated train transportation. Midway
Airport is the terminus of the line, which traverses the southwest
portion of the city before ending up in the loop and cycling back
to Midway again. The Orange Line does not run 24 hours a day
(unlike the Blue Line, which provides 24-hour service to O'hare
& the Red Line), but does operate extensive hours from about
4:00 A.M. to 1:00 A.M., running at an average of 8-minute
intervals.
Recent history (1994–)
In 1996, Chicago
Mayor Richard M.
Daley announced the historic Midway
Airport Terminal Development Program, which was launched the next
year. At the time, it was the largest public works project in the
state. The Midway Airport parking garage opened in 1999, bringing
covered parking to the airport for the first time. The garage,
offering 3,000 hourly and daily parking spaces, is connected to the
Midway terminal building for convenient access to ticket counters
and baggage claim areas.
Continuing with the expansion project, a pedestrian bridge over
Cicero Avenue was constructed in 2000. The bridge connects the new
terminal to the new concourses. In 2001, the new Midway Airport
terminal building opened, offering expanded ticket counters,
spacious baggage claim areas, traveler information and a short
walking distance to airline gates. A food court opened with
Chicago-style food and retail options, and in 2002, Midway welcomed
the return of direct international service after a 40-year absence
with the opening of the new Federal Inspection Service facility in
Concourse
A.
In June 2004, Mayor Daley and airline officials celebrated the
completion of the Terminal Development Program. The expansion
project resulted in the addition of 14 gates (from 29 to 43), with
the airport now providing 43 gates on 3 concourses. A new
6,300-space economy parking garage, including a new bridge and
roadway used exclusively for buses shuttling passengers to and from
the terminal, opened in December 2005.
Simultaneous to Midway's expansion,
ATA
Airlines began rapid expansion at Chicago Midway in the early
2000s, and prior to 2004, ATA offered significant scheduled service
to destinations from Midway Airport and was the airport's dominant
carrier, occupying and operating 14 of the 17 gates in
Concourse
A. However, after the airline declared bankruptcy in October
2004, scheduled service from Midway significantly decreased.
ATA Airlines opened their
Chicago-Midway hub in 1992, and was the largest carrier at Midway
as recently as 2004.
ATA ceased all operations in April 2008.
Due to repeated cancellations to its schedule,
ATA then offered non-stop flights to 4
destinations, and mainly operated out of only 2 gates in
Concourse
B.
On
May 11, 2007, the airline added new service from Chicago to
Oakland and Ontario, California. These new additions marked the first time
ATA increased service at Chicago Midway in almost three years.
However, just five months later, ATA announced they would end
service to Ontario on January 7, 2008. On April 3, 2008, ATA
Airlines discontinued all operations. The airline had operated at
Chicago-Midway since 1992.
As of November, 2008,
Porter
Airlines flies between Midway and Toronto. It is the only
Canadian route served from Chicago-Midway.
In early 2009, construction began on an expansion of Concourse A.
The new area will replace the existing walkway to gates A4A and
A4B, and will feature new concessions and a new holding room. The
project is scheduled to be complete in Spring 2010.
Privatization
On April 20, 2009, a $2.5 billion deal to
privatize the airport via a 99-year lease fell
through when the consortium could not put together financing. The
City is to keep $125 million in the downpayment. The consortium
operating under the name of Midway Investment and Development
Company LLC consisted of
Vancouver Airport Services,
Citi Infrastructure Investors and Boston's
John Hancock Life Insurance.
It was awarded the contract in October 2008 by the City Council
which voted 49-0 to approve it. The consortium would have operated
the airport and collected airport parking, concession and passenger
facility charges. However, Chicago would have continued to provide
fire and police services.
Chicago privatized the Chicago
Skyway in 2007.
The two original Southwest Airlines
maintenance hangars at Midway Airport.
Statistics
Chicago
Midway Airport is the second largest passenger airport in the
Chicago
metropolitan area, and is the second busiest in the state of Illinois after Chicago O'Hare International
Airport. In 2008, 17,340,497 passengers traveled
through Chicago Midway, second behind O'Hare International Airport,
and ahead of Gary/Chicago International
Airport and Chicago
Rockford International Airport. In 2005, Chicago Midway International
Airport was the 30th busiest airport in the United States in terms
of passenger traffic. In its 80-year history of passenger traffic,
Midway Airport has had 21 incidents and accidents, and only one
accident since 1976.
Southwest is the dominant carrier at Midway, controlling 29
of the airport's 43 gates. Currently, the airline offers 227
daily departures to 47 destinations.
Chicago Midway International Airport ranked third amongst large
airports in the nation for "Best On-Time Arrival Rates" in June
2007, with 75.4% of all flights (8,087) arriving on time, a 3.8%
increase from the previous year. It ranked highest in customer
satisfaction among medium-sized airports (10 million to 30 million
passengers per year) in
J. D. Power and Associates' 2008
study.
Airfield
Aerial view of Chicago Midway
International Airport, a.k.a. the "world's busiest square
mile".
The original fully developed 1940s layout included 8
runways that crisscrossed the 8-by-8-block (one
square mile) property. All terminals and hangars were on the square
periphery. By the late 1970s the shorter north–south and east–west
runway pairs had been closed. Four of the original runways remain,
all significantly strengthened and enhanced, but essentially the
same lengths as always. A short runway for light aircraft was added
in 1989.
Chicago Midway International Airport covers one square mile
(640 acre, 2.59 km
2) and currently has five
runways:
- Runway 13C-31C: , air carrier runway, ILS equipped.
- Runway 4R-22L: , air carrier runway, ILS equipped.
- Runway 4L-22R: , general aviation and air taxi.
- Runway 13L-31R: , general aviation and air taxi.
- Runway 13R-31L: , light aircraft only.
Because Midway is surrounded by buildings and other development,
the landing thresholds of the runways are
displaced to provide a proper obstacle
clearance. Both the
FAA and the airlines ensure
safety by adhering to calculated load limits and various weather
minimums. Because of the displaced landing thresholds, the runways
have shorter distances available for landings than for takeoffs.
13C-31C, the longest runway, only has an available landing distance
of in the southeast direction, and operating to the northwest. All
the other runways have a landing distance below . The largest
aircraft normally seen at Midway is the
Boeing 757. Due to close spacing between runways
and taxiways and other dimensional issues, widebody aircraft would
require too many operating restrictions to be practical.
Airlines and destinations
Destinations served from
Chicago-Midway
(effective November 2009)
Southwest Airlines is the dominant
carrier at Midway, operating more than 225 daily flights out of 29
of Midway's 43 gates to over 45 destinations across the United
States.
An AirTran Airways Boeing 717-200 with
a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 in the background.
The
carriers transporting the most passengers from Chicago Midway
Airport are Southwest and AirTran.
In 2008, a total of 17,340,497 passengers were carried through MDW,
a 10.52% decrease from the previous year. Also in 2008, 253,901
aircraft passed through Midway Airport, a 16.66% decrease from
2007. After the merger of Northwest Airlines into Delta, Delta will
be the second largest carrier at Midway, surpassing Airtran in
number of daily flights and year round destinations.
For complete information on flights to and from Chicago Midway
International Airport, please see the
airport's website.
Chicago Midway International Airport provides 43 aircraft gates on
3 concourses (A, B, and C)
Concourse A
Note: All international arrivals are handled in
Concourse A.
Concourse A has 17 gates: A1–A3, A4A, A4B, A5, A7, A9–A12, A14–A19.
Gates A4A and A4B will be closed until Spring 2010 due to
construction of a new concessions area and satellite holding
room.
Concourse B
Concourse B has 23 gates: B1–B3, B5, B7–B12, B14–B26
Concourse C
Concourse C has 3 gates: C1–C3
Other Services
Pet Airways – Baltimore, Denver-Rocky
Mountain
Previous airline service
Before the rise of O'Hare in the late 1950s, Midway was the
world's busiest airport and
one of the key hubs in the U.S. airline system.
United Airlines was headquartered at Midway
in the pre-O'Hare days, and
American
Airlines was originally based at Midway until it moved its
headquarters to New York City in the mid-1930s. There was also a
very large presence from
TWA
and
Eastern Air Lines, as well as
several others. The airport was extensively renovated in 1958 and,
again, in 1967, after which several of the
legacy carriers resumed service after a
period of some years. Midway was also a hub for the startup
Midway Airlines
in the 1980s, and a focus city for former
Vanguard Airlines from 1997–2000.
Both
American Airlines and United Airlines ended all scheduled service
to Midway in September 2006, in favor of concentrating Chicago-area
operations at the larger nearby O'Hare
International Airport. However, despite its small size compared to
O'Hare, Midway is still a vital transportation terminal.
Its key
advantage is that it is closer to the Loop than
O'Hare. The average train ride on the
Orange Line from the
Loop to Chicago Midway International Airport is about 20–25
minutes, compared to about 45 minutes from O'Hare.
Big Sky Airlines, which commenced non-stop
service on December 3, 2006 between Springfield,
Illinois and Midway, later expanded the service to include
daily nonstop flight to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, beginning on March 17. However, citing poor
demand, both the Springfield as well as the Eau Claire flights were
discontinued on June 9, 2007.
Mesa Airlines, which began non-stop service
from MDW in early 2007, discontinued all flights to Decatur and Quincy, Illinois, effective November 9, 2007. The flights,
which were operated by
Air Midwest, were
terminated citing poor passenger demand.
Chicago Midway International Airport was once the largest hub of
ATA Airlines. ATA had operated a hub at
Midway since 1992. As recent as 2004, ATA operated over 100 daily
flights to over 30 destinations. The airline had cut back service
from Chicago ever since declaring bankruptcy in late 2004. In April
2008, the airline declared bankruptcy again, this time
discontinuing all operations. On April 3, 2008, ATA Airlines ended
all operations, including service to the four cities the airline
still served at Chicago-Midway.
Continental Airlines, provided daily
service from Chicago-Midway to Cleveland and Newark until May 2008. The airline discontinued
Chicago-Midway service on May 31, 2008 citing high fuel prices.
However,
Continental has stated it will maintain all operations at nearby
Chicago O'Hare
International Airport.
Incidents and accidents
Significant incidents
On June 30, 1956,
United Airlines Flight 718, a
Douglas DC-7, was
headed for Midway Airport.
Over the Grand Canyon it collided with a TWA Super Constellation killing all 128
people on both planes. This became the impetus for the
modern air traffic control system.
December 8 incidents
On December 8, 1972,
United
Airlines Flight 553, a
Boeing
737-200, crashed into a residential area outside of Midway
during landing. The crash of the 737-200 killed 43 of the 61 on
board, and two on the ground.
Exactly
33 years later, on December 8, 2005, Southwest
Airlines Flight 1248, a Boeing 737-700
inbound from Baltimore-Washington International
Airport in Baltimore,
Maryland, slid off
the runway while attempting to land at the airport in a heavy snow
storm. The airplane broke through the barrier fence of the
airport and came to rest at the intersection of 55th Street and
Central Avenue bordering the airport at its northwest corner. A
6-year-old boy was killed as a passenger in a vehicle that was
struck by the plane after it skidded into the street.
List of All Major Incidents at Chicago Midway
International Airport
Date |
Registration |
Aircraft |
Carrier |
Location |
Summary |
31 May 1936 |
NC14979 |
DC-2 |
Trans World Airlines |
- |
On approach to 27L, 1 engine out, strong gusts, crashed half a
mile east of field |
4 December 1940 |
NC25678 |
DC-3A |
United Airlines |
6356 So. Keating |
Pilot lost sight in bad weather, spun in |
21 May 1943 |
|
B-24 |
US ARMY |
3625 W. 73rd St. |
On approach, disoriented in bad weather, hit huge gas storage
tank south east |
26 September 1946 |
NC19939 |
DC-3 |
Trans World Airlines |
West of 96th Ave. at 97th St. |
Mid-air collision with Boeing PT-17, DC-3 limped in to
Midway |
2 July 1946 |
NC28383 |
DC-3 |
Trans World Airlines |
- |
Crashed northeast of field |
10 March 1948 |
NC37478 |
DC-4 |
Delta Air Lines |
5000 W. 55th St. |
Plane took off 36L, at went vertical, at nosed over, crashed on
55th St. |
26 March 1949 |
NC90736 |
DC-6 |
American Airlines |
- |
Hit power lines on approach |
18 December 1949 |
NC86501 |
L-049 |
Trans World Airlines |
- |
Landing too far down 13R crashed through fence, ended up at
63rd and Cicero |
4 January 1951 |
N79982 |
C-46 |
Monarch Airlines |
- |
Overloaded taking off on 31L, could not climb, crashed on
railroad tracks one half mile northeast |
16 September 1951 |
N74689 |
C-46 |
Peninsula Transport |
- |
Belly-landed away at northeast 63rd and Harlem |
3 March 1953 |
N6214C |
L-1049 |
Eastern Airlines |
On field |
Landed on 31L, gear collapsed, skidded southwest toward Hale
School |
17 July 1955 |
N3422 |
Convair 340 |
Braniff International Airways |
On field |
Hit gas station sign on approach to 13R, flipped over,
crashed |
5 August 1955 |
N74601 |
Boeing 377 |
Northwest Airlines |
- |
Landed 31L, could not stop, crashed through fence 55th and
Central |
20 February 1956 |
N7404 |
Vickers Viscount |
Capitol |
On field |
Landing on 31L plane flopped in short of threshold |
15 March 1959 |
N94273 |
Convair 240 |
American Airlines |
- |
Lost sight of 31L on approach, crashed in railroad yard one
half mile south of field |
24 November 1959 |
N102R |
L-1049H |
Trans World Airlines |
Came to rest 63rd and Kilpatrick |
Plane departed 31L, fire on #2, circled to land 31L, crashed
southeast of field |
1 September 1961 |
N86511 |
L-049 |
Trans World Airlines |
- |
Plane departed Midway, lost elevator bolt, crashed near
Hinsdale, Illinois |
8 December 1972 |
N9031U |
737-200 |
United Airlines |
71st and Springfield |
Aircraft descended too low on approach to 31L and struck
houses, crashed southeast of airport |
25 March 1976 |
N1EM |
Lockheed Jetstar |
Executive |
On field |
Pilot unfamiliar with plane attempted take off 13R, never
airborne, crashed into fence 63rd and Cicero |
6 August 1976 |
N9446Z |
TB-25N |
Air Chicago |
- |
Poor maintenance, plane took off 4L, lost engine 2, crashed
west of field |
8 December 2005 |
N471WN |
737-700 |
Southwest Airlines |
55th & Central |
Landed 31C during snowstorm, crashed through fence, hit 2 cars,
killed child in car, 55th and Central |
INFORMATION SOURCED FROM: Civil Aeronautics Board archives, NTSB
records, bukiri-research.
NOTE: The runway now designated 13C-31C was designated 13R-31L
until 1989, when a new Runway 13R-31L was built. Runways 27L and
36L have been closed since the 1970s.
Transit
Midway Airport is served by the
Chicago Transit Authority's
"L" trains. Passengers can board
Orange Line
trains at a station in the airport terminal, which runs to downtown
Chicago and the Loop (transit time about 25 minutes). This same
station doubles as a stop for many CTA-run buses that serve the
surrounding areas. Midway is one of the few airports in the United
States that have
rapid transit train
to terminal service.
See also
References
- " ATA AIRLINES
DISCONTINUES ALL OPERATIONS." ATA Airlines.
- " ATA Codeshare Information." Southwest
Airlines.
- Midway Airport deal falls apart: Consortium can't
borrow cash needed to finance deal – Chicago Tribune – April 21,
2009
External links