The Gary / Chicago International Airport (GCIA) announced the acquisition of a new parcel of land located adjacent to the airport’s existing land holdings. The $925,000 acquisition of a 4.7-acre parcel was financed via bond proceeds from the airport’s recent $16.55 million bond sale announced in early March of this year. The acquisition provides additional land for a planned “Phase II” of the airport’s ongoing efforts to expand their cargo service offerings. The airport announced their Phase I expansion in Q4 of 2024, with construction currently underway. Phase I will create new air cargo infrastructure as well as enable the airport to accommodate an additional eight (8) wide body cargo airplanes to operate out of the airport concurrently. The airport now currently owns 60 acres planned for air cargo operations.
“This is a long-planned and important acquisition and a critical step in the future expansion of our cargo aviation offerings, which continue to grow at an impressive rate,” said Dan Vicari, Executive Director of GCIA. “This acquisition will complement the next phase of our cargo services expansion, as we are already well underway with our initial expansion that we announced late last year and continue to position the airport for future growth and development.”
GCIA has seen extensive growth since 2015, starting with the expansion of the airport’s main runway to nearly 9,000 feet, making it the second longest runway in the region after O’Hare International Airport. This expansion has allowed the airport to service larger, heavier aircraft. GCIA opened its U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facility in 2018, allowing air travelers from any international destination to frequent the airport without needing to clear customs elsewhere.
In 2020, GCIA began cargo service operations via UPS, who signed a long-term lease agreement. Cargo service operations have quickly scaled, and GCIA now ranks 3rd in the State of Indiana for its freight volume, with further growth anticipated in coming years. In 2022, GCIA received formal Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approvals for its Master Plan, a long-term planning document that will guide the next several decades of airport aviation and growth. In late 2023, GCIA announced its acquisition of the Griffith-Merrillville Airport, making GCIA one of only three aviation "systems" in the State of Indiana.
2024 saw multiple milestones reached, including unveiling its new website, breaking ground on a new $12 million, 47,000 square foot aviation hangar as well as breaking ground on “Phase 1” of a planned $67 million cargo services infrastructure investment that will boost its growing cargo sector. This effort coincided with the airport agreeing to a long-term extension with UPS, further enlarging the airports cargo capacity. The year also saw the airport awarded a $1.7 million Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant to design and engineer a new, state-of-the-art airport traffic control tower.
