There's Some Room for 'Interpretation,' But the Numbers are the Numbers

We've received a number of releases, from both pilot organizations and unions, that have implied that, since Mayor Daley had Meigs Field's runway ruined, ATC at Midway (the busiest airport in the world, before O'Hare got going) has been over-stressed by what was said to have been Meigs' GA traffic. According to recently-gathered statistics, that shouldn't be the case.

95% of Meigs traffic was GA.

FAA Chicago-area spokesman Tony Molinaro told ANN that since Meigs was wrecked (the exact word he used was, "closed"), GA flights at Midway are down, when comparing April, 2002 with April of 2003; Month-to-month comparisons show, in fact, that Midway GA flights are down 4%. Midway traffic overall, though, is up -- mainly due to an increase in air taxi activity.

Mr. Molinaro said, "The Meigs GA pilots aren't flying to Midway." Where they might be going is open to speculation, but he offered us this: "Waukegan is down 16%; Gary's down 15%; O'Hare -- they get some GA traffic there -- is down 9%." On the plus side, "Pal-Waukee is up 8.5%; and DuPage County is up 6.4% -- counting April to April."

Up, down, flying around...

Is there anything definitive that can be drawn from this pattern shift? Molinaro told us, "Are those Meigs pilots flying to Pal-Waukee or DuPage? I don't know." Is Midway traffic up? Springtime brings out more aircraft. "From March to April, it is up -- that's the nature of springtime flying," he told us. "Comparing April to April, though, it's down."

FMI: www.faa.gov