The Federal Aviation Administration gave final approval on Friday to a USD$7.5 billion plan to overhaul Chicago's O'Hare Airport in an effort to reduce flight delays, the agency's administrator said.
"O'Hare is now cleared for take-off," FAA administrator Marion Blakey told reporters, adding the project will result in more flights and improved on-time performance at the world's busiest airport in terms of take-offs and landings.
The agency in July released a final environmental impact statement that concluded the O'Hare Modernization Program offered the lowest level of average delays and the greatest savings in delay costs, with minimal additional impacts on the environment, compared with alternative plans.
The approval put two nearby suburbs and a cemetery opposed to the project on a collision course with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who was scheduled to break ground on the project later on Friday.
The suburbs and cemetery, which stand to lose property to O'Hare, asked a US appeals court in Washington DC on Friday to stay the FAA's decision until the court has examined "significant legal defects" in that decision.
"The FAA's approval would allow the destruction of homes and businesses in our communities before the agency even decides whether the (program) makes economic sense or can be financed," said Bensenville Village President John Geils, in a statement. "It's 'destruction before decision' and it's against federal law."
Blakey said flight delays, which ripple from O'Hare across the US air traffic system, should be cut by 66 percent in good weather and 68 percent in bad weather as a result of the project which adds, relocates and extends runways, builds a new western terminal and calls for other improvements.
The US Department of Transportation's inspector general has questioned the costs and benefits of the project.
In a report this summer, the inspector general called on the FAA to verify that the project's costs, schedule and funding sources are realistic, reasonable and credible, pointing to the likelihood the price tag will increase.
That report also tied projected cuts in air travel delays to the FAA completing substantial changes to the airspace in the Great Lakes region.
Blakey said the airspace reconfiguration plan was under way and expressed confidence in the city's financing plan, which taps federal airport grants, bonds backed by airport revenue, passenger facility charges and third-party financing.
"We believe this is viable, we believe this is practical and we believe the money will be there," Blakey said.
The FAA has yet to release a decision on Chicago's request for federal airport improvement grants, which make up about 9 percent of the cost, agency officials said.
