Looking Back at the Overnight Destruction of Meigs Field

Chicago’s mayor in 2003 dismantled a historic lakefront airport and paid a ‘pocket change’ fine.

Meg Godlewski

Monday, March 30, 2026 at 04:52 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Zach Vasile

Meigs Field was the best way to fly into Chicago for GA pilots—before it was destroyed in March 2003. [Credit: Friends of Meigs Field]

Key Takeaways:

Meigs Field in Chicago was controversially and illegally destroyed overnight on March 30, 2003, by Mayor Richard Daley, who had its runway torn up without warning despite federal obligations.
Daley's unilateral action, which left 16 planes stranded and surprised air traffic control, was motivated by his long-standing desire to convert the airport into a park and avoid anticipated legal challenges.
The incident led to Chicago being fined by the FAA, a new "Meigs Legacy Provision" that significantly increased penalties for illegal airport closures, and served as a stark warning for other endangered general aviation airports nationwide.

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It takes years to build an airport, at least 30 days to get permission from the FAA to legally shut it down—a situation that’s unlikely as the agency is in the business of protecting aviation—and just a few hours to destroy it. These are lessons learned on March 30, 2003, when the aviation world woke up to learn that Merrill C. Meigs Field (formerly KCGX) in Chicago had been destroyed overnight.

It wasn’t an act of nature. It was done on order of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who instructed heavy equipment operators to go to the airport under the cover of darkness and carve a series of X-shaped ditches across the 3,900-by-150-foot runway, rendering it useless.