*DJ Chicago Granted FAA Extension On Midway Privatization Deadline

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires

February 01, 2010 11:04 ET (16:04 GMT)

*DJ Chicago To Update FAA On Midway Effort By April 30

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires

February 01, 2010 11:08 ET (16:08 GMT)

*DJ Chicago Aims To Privatize Midway 'At Earliest Practical Date'

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires

February 01, 2010 11:12 ET (16:12 GMT)

=DJ Chicago Granted FAA Extension On Midway Privatization Deadline

   By Bob Sechler
   Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Chicago has been granted an extra three months before it must update the Federal Aviation Administration on its plans to privatize Midway airport.

The city, which faced a Feb. 1 deadline to submit a new privatization timeline to the FAA, has asked for and received an extension until April 30.

Chicago "intends to complete the privatization process at the earliest practical date," the city said in a filing with the FAA. But it noted that "the pace and direction continues to be dictated by conditions in the global credit and capital markets."

A closely watched, $2.5 billion deal to privatize Midway--the city's second airport--was pulled in early 2009 after the bidders failed to secure the required funding amid the global credit crisis.

Since then, city officials have maintained that they hoped to devise a new plan and privatize Midway anyway.

The FAA initially gave them until Feb. 1 to submit a new timeline for privatizing Midway, or the airport risked losing its spot in the FAA's ongoing pilot airport privatization program. The extension provides the city with renewed breathing room.

Chicago "is in continuing deliberations regarding the completion of the Midway Airport privatization," the city said in its FAA filing announcing the extension.

Pete Scales, a city spokesman, declined to elaborate.

-By Bob Sechler, Dow Jones Newswires; 512-394-0285; bob.sechler@dowjones.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 01, 2010 11:47 ET (16:47 GMT)

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