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:

On March 30, 2003, Chicago's Merrill C. Meigs Field was illegally destroyed overnight by Mayor Richard Daley, who ordered ditches carved into its runway without the required 30-day FAA notification, surprising pilots, FBO operators, and air traffic control.
The unilateral closure disregarded federal grant obligations that legally bound the city to keep the airport open, fulfilling Daley's long-standing desire to convert the site into a park.
As a result, Chicago was fined $33,000 and ordered to repay $1 million in federal funds used for the demolition and park development, and the incident led to the "Meigs Legacy Provision" increasing federal penalties for illegal airport closures.
The destruction of Meigs Field served as a significant "wake-up call" for the aviation community, demonstrating the vulnerability of airports to unilateral closure by local authorities despite federal assurances.

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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.