Inside these posts: O’Hare International Airport

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Midway has highest rate of delayed departures

A higher rate of airline flights departed late from Midway Airport than at any other major U.S. airport over the first eight months of the year, the U.S. Department of Transportation reported Tuesday.

Three flights out of 10 departed Midway at least 15 minutes after their scheduled time to push back from the gate, according to the department’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The 71 percent on-time departure record over the period was only slightly better in August, when 74 percent of flights departed Midway on time.

United-Continental to keep Cleveland operations

United and Continental Airlines agreed on Monday to maintain a hub in Cleveland for at least five more years, as Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray ended his antitrust investigation of the mega-merger.

The announcement clears one of the last remaining roadblocks to the tie-up, which will create the world’s largest carrier. The Justice Department, which had been expected to provide the closest scrutiny of the deal, concluded its antitrust probe last month.

United and Continental shareholders will vote on Friday to formally approve the financial union of the two airlines. The deal is slated to close on Oct. 1, when Continental CEO Jeff Smisek will become chief executive of the new United. Get the full story »

City council gives final approval to O’Hare bonds

The Chicago City Council gave final approval on Wednesday to $1 billion of revenue bonds to continue expanding O’Hare International Airport.

But the two major carriers at the airport are not saying if they plan on fighting the debt sale.

A spokesman for American Airlines said there was “no comment at this time.” Get the full story »

Justice Department OKs United-Continental merger

Passengers at the United and Continental kiosks at O'Hare International Airport, May 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

The Justice Department approved the proposed merger of United and Continental airlines Friday, closing an unexpectedly speedy four-month investigation that paves the way for the mega-deal to close by Oct. 1.

To win the blessing of federal antitrust regulators, United and Continental agreed to lease slots for 18 round-trip flights to Southwest Airlines at Newark Liberty International Airport, beginning in March 2011.

Justice officials said the slot transfer was struck in “response to the department’s principal concerns” regarding the merger, which critics have warned will speed consolidation and eventually leave the three largest U.S. carriers with a lion’s share of the market. Get the full story »

3 United flights at O’Hare June’s only long tarmac waits

Only three commercial flights among the thousands that operated nationwide in June sat on the ground loaded with passengers for three hours or longer, the Obama administration said Tuesday, touting the effect of a controversial new consumer-protection rule that threatens stiff fines against airlines for excessive tarmac delays.

The bad news for Chicago was that all three overly tardy flights involved the home-town carrier, United Airlines, at O’Hare International Airport. Get the full story »

Daley wants liquor carts at O’Hare, Midway

Liquor could be sold from pushcarts at the city’s two major airports under a measure proposed today by Mayor Richard Daley. The plan: To create a new type of liquor license allowing “the sale of alcoholic liquor from pushcarts within authorized areas at O’Hare and Midway,” according to the ordinance. The beer and liquor pushcarts would be located beyond the security checkpoints at passenger terminals.

American further delays Chicago-Beijing service

American Airlines is further delaying the launch of flights between Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and Beijing because it has yet to get approval for certain takeoff and landing times from Chinese authorities.

The airline said earlier this week it was tentatively delaying the start of flights until May 4. On Friday, the airline said it now plans to start the service on May 25.

Get the full story »

American Airlines hub at O’Hare has new chief

Tribune staff report | Franco Tedeschi has been named the new head of American Airline’s hub at
Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. He replaces Art Pappas, who had led operations at O’Hare, American’s
second-largest hub, since May 2006. Pappas is leaving to run American’s
home hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

Get the full story »