Gary/Chicago International Airport (GCIA) said it will accelerate building work to improve cargo facilities after receiving nearly $10m in grant funding.
The airport, close to Chicago in the state of Indiana, said receiving the previously allocated $9.82m grant from the State of Indiana will allow it to complete its "Phase 1" air cargo services expansion by the end of 2025.
The airport broke ground on Phase 1 of the $67m cargo services infrastructure investment last year.
The grant enables GCIA to fully construct eight widebody aircraft parking positions simultaneously, which will be housed on roughly 25 acres of concrete ramp.
GCIA said the ability to construct all the intended aircraft parking positions simultaneously provides the airport with approximately $8.5m in overall cost savings for its Phase 1 project.
“We are very pleased to be able to construct all of our planned plane parking in one fell swoop versus a more sequential process over a period of years, given how quickly our cargo sector continues to grow,” said GCIA executive director Dan Vicari.
“We are very grateful to Congressman Frank Mrvan and the State of Indiana for their continued support and assistance in securing the funding for this critical Phase 1 cargo expansion.”
In 2020, GCIA began cargo service operations via UPS, who signed a long-term lease agreement. Then in November last year, the airport agreed to a long-term extension with UPS.
The initial agreement was announced in May 2020 and called for an inaugural term of a five-year lease agreement with the option to extend for two additional five-year terms, for a total tenure of 15 years.
The most recent agreement effectively reset the airport’s 2020 agreement with UPS, adding an extension of another five-year term to the agreement and potentially keeping UPS at GCIA until 2040, GCIA previously explained.
GCIA said it anticipates further growth of cargo service operations in coming years.
The airport, which has recently acquired 4.7 acres of land to expand on, was last year awarded a $1.7m Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant to design and engineer a new airport traffic control tower.
GCIA also previously expanded the airport’s main runway to nearly 9,000 feet, making it the second longest runway in the region after Chicago O’Hare International Airport. This expansion has allowed the airport to service larger, heavier aircraft.
