Tough negotiations expected over fourth runway at O’Hare

A new Chicago mayor is overseeing the modernization of O’Hare International Airport, but the same frictions are rising over expansion.

In a speech pushing for a $7.2 billion investment in Chicago’s infrastructure Thursday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel talked about the ongoing O’Hare construction program, which ultimately involves building four new runways and extending two existing ones.

“Our goal is to reduce delays at O’Hare by 80 percent and raise the airport’s capacity by 300,000 passengers per year by 2015,” Emanuel said. “To help us accomplish this goal, I call on the airlines to begin planning with us today, so we can add a fourth and final runway.”

For United and American Airlines, those words are creating some turbulence. The carriers sued the city in 2011 saying Chicago was securing loans without their consent to pay for the second part of the expansion plan. The final stage is pegged at about $3.4 billion.

American and United have say over any capital projects paid with bonds because they essentially pay back the loans through landing fees and other airport charges.

They and the city reached a compromise a year ago, agreeing that the city could go ahead with a third new runway at the far south end of O’Hare. The deal was that the airlines and city would return to the bargaining table no later than March 1, 2013, to negotiate on the rest of the program, which includes a fourth new runway on the north side of the airport.

The carriers’ response to the mayor’s remarks were tepid at best.

American, which is under court supervision after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last fall, came out with a statement saying, “American is very supportive of modernizing O’Hare. ... However, we remain completely focused on our restructuring and we have limited ability to make commitments going forward.

“We are very willing to listen to the city and engage in conversation but our immediate focus is on coming out of restructuring a strong and vigorous competitor in the Chicago market.”

United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said the airline “would continue to work with the city on demand-driven projects.”

The underwhelming response reflects the challenges of the industry, with airlines reducing flights in light of high fuel prices and people flying less, aviation experts say. It’s also a question of bad timing.

American officials recently told a bankruptcy court they’d lost about $619 million in February, and United is in the midst of a merger with Continental Airlines — both reasons the carriers might be skittish over the city committing to an extra debt load that could include higher fees.

Part one of the expansion comprises a new runway on O’Hare’s northernmost end and the extension of an existing runway just south of the terminals. Both of those are complete. Also, the city is building a new runway on the south side of the airfield, where a historic cemetery is being removed after an extensive legal battle. That runway should be completed by late 2013.

The far south runway, part of the deal reached with the airlines and Chicago, is expected to be done in 2015, Emanuel said.

While the airlines have said they support the idea of more runways, they’re on record as opposing a western terminal, part of the original O’Hare building program and now on the far back burner.

But Bensenville Mayor Frank Soto, one of several local officials who thinks the western terminal is key to economic development, thinks it should come first.

“If you’re really looking at true job creation and potential for growth, the terminal would bring more opportunities,” Soto said.