Elk Grove facility was 9/11 operations center

United Airlines' facility in Elk Grove Township means more to the suburbs - and to the world - than many may realize.

Beyond the cubicles of a typical office is the heart of the airline, the operations control center that tracks planes worldwide. Arteries of workers curve around the room, each of their radar screens pulsing with blip after blip of activity.

They know where your plane is in Paris or London or New York.

And they knew on Sept. 11, 2001.

These were the screens that captured the first moments of the hijacked planes on that fateful day.

And in an adjacent room, executives and strategists gathered in theater-style seats. They faced a wall-sized screen that monitored everything happening during those dramatic moments that changed America.

Now, those rooms will move away, to downtown Chicago for the next leg of the company's journey.

But moving into Willis Tower, a world-renowned high-rise, doesn't automatically make the building a terrorist target, like the former Sears Tower was during the chilling aftermath of 9/11, said Bill Matens of St. Charles, senior vice president of facility security and engineering for Schaumburg-based Quest Consultants International.

"Since 9/11, they've made vast improvements in technology, so I don't see why (United) can't move into the Willis Tower," sad Matens. "They can monitor operations here or in another area. They can bring it downtown and be just as efficient."

Matens said Willis Tower has some of the best security available today and workers and others shouldn't be concerned.

Joe Schwieterman, director of the Chaddick Institute of Metropolitan Development at DePaul University, was a market pricing analyst for United from 1983 to 1991 in Elk Grove Township. The campus was a world in itself, he said. Besides offices and a cafeteria, it offered a print shop and other services, as well as numerous computer programmers and clerical workers, Schwieterman said.

But that was before the Internet. Before ticket purchases, seat reservations and boarding passes were all made online.

Technology has advanced even further since the 60-acre campus opened in 1961. Also, security has vastly improved, opening options that weren't possible even just a few years ago.

While the company's security wouldn't be at higher risk going to Willis Tower, it could lose some advantages that the suburbs offer, Schwieterman said.

"The suburban campus has a lot of flexibility, especially during a crisis," he said. "Employees can come and go all night long to keep the airline operating. But try that downtown. You have to fight traffic and pay for parking. And try leaving downtown Chicago at 3 a.m. if you don't drive."