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O'Hare Must Return to Full Strength ASAP, Rahm Tells FAA

By Ted Cox | October 1, 2014 2:28pm
 Passengers wait in line to reschedule flights at O'Hare International Airport on September 26, 2014 in Chicago. All flights in and out of Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports were halted this morning because of a suspected arson fire at a suburban Chicago air traffic control facility.
Passengers wait in line to reschedule flights at O'Hare International Airport on September 26, 2014 in Chicago. All flights in and out of Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports were halted this morning because of a suspected arson fire at a suburban Chicago air traffic control facility.
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Scott Olson/Getty Images

DOWNTOWN — The mayor called on the Federal Aviation Administration to return O'Hare International Airport to full strength Wednesday after a fire set by a disgruntled employee paralyzed both O'Hare and Midway airports last Friday and had a crippling effect on operations into this week.

"My first concern is getting O'Hare up and operating at 100 percent," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said during a news conference at the Chicago Cultural Center Downtown. "It's not where it needs to be.

"O'Hare is a central part of our economy, our competitiveness," he said. "Over the weekend, I was on the phone with FAA telling them they have to get this open, up and running.

 The arrival and departure display at O'Hare International Airport shows a list of cancelled flights on September 27, 2014 in Chicago. O'Hare was forced to cancel more than 1,500 fights yesterday and more than 600 today after a contract worker sabotaged a suburban air traffic control center yesterday morning.
The arrival and departure display at O'Hare International Airport shows a list of cancelled flights on September 27, 2014 in Chicago. O'Hare was forced to cancel more than 1,500 fights yesterday and more than 600 today after a contract worker sabotaged a suburban air traffic control center yesterday morning.
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Scott Olson/Getty Images

"Once that task is done," Emanuel added, "they then have to analyze what happened, how could this happen."

Ted Cox says the mayor can lean on the FAA to promote changes:

A disgruntled employee identified as Brian Howard, of Naperville, allegedly set fires at an FAA flight-control facility in suburban Aurora last Friday, paralyzing operations at both airports and throwing national air transportation into turmoil. Problems persisted through the weekend, with the FAA saying it could be two weeks before things are repaired and return to normal.

Howard reportedly tried to kill himself after setting the fires Friday morning. He appeared at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse Downtown on Monday to face charges of destruction to aircraft facilities. He is being held without bond.

Emanuel marveled Wednesday at how a single facility could handle flight control over the Chicago region with "no backup capacity," adding that he wanted the FAA to have a sense of "urgency" about solving the problem and that "you have to ask some hard questions, at the end of this, about how and why."

Emanuel said he understood why President Barack Obama was flying into Gary International Airport this week for a campaign visit to back Gov. Pat Quinn, saying, "I do think that, given that O'Hare's getting its sea legs back, he's doing the appropriate thing going to Gary" so that he doesn't overburden an already taxed air system in the city.

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