Express Air Coacj
Founded in West Lafayette in 2004, Express Air Coach offers scheduled airport shuttle service, charters and tours to customers throughout Indiana and Illinois. Details and booking information can be found on expressaircoach.com.
MICHIGAN CITY — Area residents heading to Chicago’s Hare International Airport will once again be able to leave their cars behind and take a shuttle bus to catch their flights.
The La Porte County Convention and Visitors Bureau on Wednesday announced a partnership with Express Air Coach to bring back the shuttle service to O’Hare and eventually to Midway airport.
“This service is important to us and our communities” said Jack Arnett, CEO of the Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We look forward to extending this service to Midway very soon.”
Express Air Coach announced Wednesday it will begin offering pick-up points in Michigan City. The Lafayette-based company currently offers daily service to O’Hare from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Portage and Hammond multiple times daily.
EAC President Paul Davis said, “We have been providing shuttle service to O’Hare from Purdue University for 17 years, the time is right to expand our service offering to the residents and visitors of Michigan City.
“The Michigan City location extends our recent additions into Northwest Indiana and is a great fit to our operational footprint. We are looking forward to providing a safe, convenient and low-cost option that will deliver you right to your terminal at O’Hare.”
According to Davis, EAC plans on “initially offering a modest schedule to determine market demand and the interest in the service. As demand grows, we will expand our schedule accordingly and explore Midway airport as well.
“The Michigan City area is a great location to launch future service offerings as well. We feel this will be a great option for travelers in Northwest Indiana to get to O’Hare in a convenient, quick, affordable and direct manner without having to deal with airport parking and transfers.
Express Air Coach will begin service from Michigan City to O’Hare on May 27. Reservations will be required ahead of time to ensure availability.
The pick-up point will be at the La Porte County Convention and Visitors Bureau at 4073 S. Franklin St. (Marquette Mall).
“Our Visitor Center will operate as a hub for the Northwest Indiana route,” Arnett said.
Such a service is not new to Michigan City. The airport shuttle service, originally known as Tri State Coach, was started around 1970 by John Shoup in Indiana.
The company was later sold to Cardinal, which later sold to Travel Ways, which went out of business. Coach USA bought the service in 2002, but reorganized in late 2019 and got out of the North American business.
A few months later, the service was restored through Mishawaka-based Royal Excursions, but was suspended indefinitely due to the pandemic, and has yet to return.
“Bringing this service back to La Porte County is a big deal for our local business and community partners. We see this as a huge benefit to the area economy,” Arnett said.
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