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| Soon to be flying over the skies at Gary/Chicago Airport |
The Gary/Chicago International Airport has once again made
an announcement that commercial air service will begin at Gary. This time, the
announcement was made by Keith Hanson, who represents the airline. He announced
that two flights per week, destined to Orlando, FL will fly out of the Gary
airport, starting in February 2012.
Last
September, it was rumored that Allegiant would begin service at Gary, but
apparently the announcement was premature. The day before a press conference
was scheduled, several news sources reported that a big announcement by an
unnamed airline would be forthcoming. The marketing firm—Diversified Marketing
Strategies of Crown Point, IN, identified the airline as Allegiant. The
announcement was cancelled by the airlines .
That
isn’t the case presently, as the latest proclamation that Allegiant Air will
begin service at Gary, this time, comes from the airline itself. Hanson added
that service to Florida may be just the beginning. He added that If it proves
to be successful, additional destinations can be added.
While
commercial airline service at the Gary airport has been on-again-off-again
proposition, it is not for a lack of trying. Indiana officials have long committed
to the success of the northwest Indiana airport.
The
last commercial airline to utilize the Gary/Chicago airport was Skybus which
ceased operation just one week after it began in the spring of 2008. A year
prior, SkyValue ceased operation at Gary due to financial difficulties. Other
airlines have come and gone over the years, but a subscription for success has
yet to be achieved. That certainly isn’t for a lack of trying. The Gary/Chicago
airport has had financial help from the federal, state, and local agencies,
including the City of Chicago, in an attempt to land long term commercial
service there.
Meanwhile,
on the other side of the border, Illinois officials continue to: 1) ignore the ready aviation
facility at Gary, which is just miles from the south suburbs they claim to be
trying to help; 2) try every way possible to coerce support for a new airport
in the farm fields near Peotone, IL, almost 50 miles south of Chicago.
The
project has been talked about for almost a half-century with little forward
progress except to shrink it to about the size of Gary’s airport.
The
only real step toward fruition came when the incarcerated ex-Illinois Gov.
George Ryan, made a deal with a campaign contributor to buy the first piece of
land outside the airport footprint. Since that first parcel in an
under-developed upscale subdivision became state-owned, Illinois officials have
used scare tactics and threats of eminent domain to scare landowners into
selling their property to the state. They have taken full advantage of
artificially reduced land prices due to the threat of an airport nearby, and
most recently the country’s economy and housing bubble to entice willing
sellers who feel they have no other options but to sell to the state. Even
still, the state has now obtained only about half of the land it would need for
a new airport. Landowners that remain are unwilling sellers who vow to fight
the state from taking their property, especially for a project that hasn’t even
been approved.
