Airlines stalling on meeting over O’Hare expansion, Daley says
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporterfspielman@suntimes.com February 3, 2011 5:12PM
Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM
Mayor Daley chided United and American Airlines on Thursday for canceling — and not rushing to re-schedule — a meeting called to resolve their legal differences with the city over O’Hare Airport expansion.
Daley said he considered it so important to strike a compromise with airlines now suing the city that he was willing to break his long-standing rule of taking Sundays off for family.
“We had a meeting scheduled for [Thursday] and the airlines cancelled it. I said, ‘How ’bout Friday?’ They said no. How `bout Saturday? They said no. I was making an exception on Sunday. I was gonna meet with them this Sunday. And they said, `No. It’s Super Bowl [Sunday].’ And I said, ‘No kidding,’ ’’ Daley said.
“Monday they said no. Tuesday they said no and Wednesday they said no. Thursday and Friday, I’ll be out of town. I’ll be back Saturday. They said no. I made another exception — the only time I’ve ever made an exception in 22 years. How ’bout [next] Sunday. And they said no.”
Daley said the meeting has now been tentatively scheduled for Feb. 15. But he can’t help but wonder why airline officials are willing to wait so long “if it’s such an emergency.”
“They went to Sen. [Dick] Durbin and Sen. [Mark] Kirk and said, ‘This is an emergency. We want to meet the mayor.’ I said, fine. Now, there’s no such emergency,” Daley said.
“I just wonder if they’re waiting for a certain date in February’’ — mayoral Election Day is Feb. 22 — and “saying, ‘Maybe the mayor won’t be around,’ ’’ Daley said. “But I’ll be around until May 16” — when his final term in office ends.
American Airlines spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan countered, “The reason we didn’t have the meeting is because of bad weather and its effect on our schedule.”
Last month, United and American filed an unprecedented lawsuit challenging the city’s right to forge ahead with the final phase of Daley’s massive runway expansion project without the approval of airlines saddled with nearly 60 percent of the cost.
They argued that the debt required would make O’Hare “among the highest-cost airports in the country,” burdening them “with costs we simply cannot afford to pay for a project we do not need and will not need for many years.” They further argued that the increases would “restrict our ability to grow and expand air service into and out of Chicago.”
Earlier this week, Daley agreed to try to hammer out a compromise, but only if United and American “put something new on the table.”
The mayor accused them of trying to “stop construction until 2019,” a charge the airlines denied.
“We want a Phase Two that is fiscally-responsible and based on operational triggers. ... It’s not calendar-driven. It’s demand-driven,” a source close to the airlines said.
Durbin (D-Ill.) said he came away from his own meeting with United and American last week convinced there is “plenty of room for a compromise.
“It is reasonable to say that the further expansion of O’Hare should be tied to the expansion of service. But, some of the triggers raised questions in my mind as to whether they’re realistic because some of them would wait until the delays are just intolerable, then say, ‘Now, let’s build,’ ’’ Durbin said earlier this week.
“You’ve got to be ahead of the curve. As you’re increasing enplanements there, you have to have the infrastructure to support it.”
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