Illinois.

Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago has a plan for the city to offer $20 million of bond anticipation notes to help pay for improvements at Midway Airport put on hold this year after Midway Airlines filed for bankruptcy. If approved by the city council and issued, the notes would be the first debt Chicago has sold for the airport.

Under the mayor's plan, the notes, backed by a letter of credit and the city's general obligation pledge, would be replaced with bonds secured by airport revenues within three years. The city had been planning to issue bonds for the project this spring, but halted the financing after Midway Airlines' Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in March. At present, the fate of the airline, the airport's main revenue generator, is uncertain.

Ed Bedore, the city's chief financial officer, said the status of the airline following its reorganization under the bankruptcy laws should be known "in a year or so."

"If it doesn't survive, other airlines will step in," he said. But if that does not happen, he added, the city would use revenues from the passenger facility charge -- currently pending before the Federal Aviation Administration -- to secure the bonds.

Mayor officials said the city had to move on the financing to make needed runaway repairs and other improvements to the 60-year-old facility.

Federal grants for the project are expected to total $60 million.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER