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:

Chicago's Merrill C. Meigs Field was illegally destroyed overnight on March 30, 2003, when Mayor Richard Daley ordered ditches carved into its runway without notice, aiming to convert the prime lakefront property into a park.
This action circumvented FAA regulations and prior agreements that obligated the city to keep the airport open due to federal grants, surprising pilots, air traffic control, and airport tenants.
The FAA fined Chicago $33,000 for the illegal closure, leading to the "Meigs Legacy Provision" which significantly increased maximum fines for future unauthorized airport shutdowns.
Chicago ultimately paid the fine and repaid $1 million in federal funds, with the incident serving as a stark warning to other endangered airports about the potential for abrupt and unilateral closures.

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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.