Gary/Chicago International Airport in critical need of financing, consultant says

By Keith Benman, Times of Northwest Indiana
keith.benman@nwi.com

A consultant to the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority recommends the airport start pursuing alternative revenue sources including discussion of limited or wholesale privatization of the facility.

Those options are among seven the airport should pursue to make up for a lack of revenue-producing facilities at the airport and revenue cuts caused by state-imposed property tax caps, according to the report from consulting firm Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc.

The report was released at a special meeting of the RDA Thursday, more than six months after it initially was scheduled for delivery. The airport apparently took exception to an early draft of the report, with 10 pages of airport rebuttals of the earlier draft attached to the report released Thursday.

In February, the Times submitted requests under Indiana's Access to Public Records Act for the SEH report as well as the airport rebuttals of the earlier draft.

The RDA will use the report to guide future financial decisions on the airport, RDA Chairman Leigh Morris said.

The RDA already has funneled almost $20 million in Indiana Toll Road lease funds to the airport for projects clearing the way for the expansion of its main runway.

Gary Airport Authority President Marion Johnson said the report will help highlight the importance of the airport to Northwest Indiana's economy.

"It was a collaborative effort," Johnson said. "It wasn't something where they said, 'Take that.'"

To bolster airport revenues, the report also urged the seeking of support from the state of Indiana, opportunities related to the privatization of Midway Airport and passenger facility charges from the Chicago airports.

The report, overseen by SEH consultant Matt Reardon, confirmed the pressing need for the expansion of the airport's main runway. That project has been stalled by negotiations with railroads over moving the tracks that sit 130 feet from the runway's end.

"The airport board acknowledges they really have to get to work on expansion of the main runway," Reardon said Thursday.

The report calls expanding the main runway "essential" for attracting commercial and cargo traffic.The report also found that the airport master plan prepared in 2001 contained overly rosy scenarios for projected passenger enplanements at the airport.

Even a previous "mid passenger" forecast of 825,900 enplanements by 2010 will not be reached but is feasible longer-term, according to the report.