Some might think new runways are a new idea. They are not. The final report of the Chicago Delay Task Force reads that new O Hare runways represent the greatest opportunity to reduce delays in Chicago, particularly during bad weather conditions. Unfortunately, this recommendation was ignored because the governor at the time was opposed to new runways at O Hare. Fast-forward a decade to 2001.
Delays are once again on the rise at O Hare.
In fact, according to the FAA, O Hare was ranked the third most delayed airport in the country in 2000 with slightly more than 6 percent of all flights delayed more than 15 minutes. Once again, a Chicago Delay Task Force has been convened and representatives from the Department of Aviation, the FAA, and the airport users will study O Hare Airport to determine what can be done to most effectively reduce delays. No one will be surprised when the Task Force determines once again that adding runways are the most effective way to reduce delays. This is a well-known fact. Mitre, NASA, and other technical organizations have reviewed all of the capacity enhancing technologies and procedures that are in development and have concluded that the cumulative effect of implementing all of these technologies would increase capacity only by roughly 5 to 15 percent.