Merrill C. Meigs Field Airport (ICAO: KCGX) was a single runway airport in Chicago that was in operation from December 1948 until March 2003, on Northerly Island, an artificial peninsula on Lake Michigan. The airport sat adjacent to downtown Chicago, the second largest business district in North America. Meigs Field airport was opened on 10 December 1948, and, by 1955, had become the busiest single-strip airport in the United States. The airport was a familiar sight on the downtown lakefront. The latest air traffic tower was built in 1952 and the terminal was dedicated in 1961. The airfield was named for Merrill C. Meigs. Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley forced the closing of Meigs in 2003 by ordering the overnight bulldozing of its runway without notice, in violation of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations.
Chicago Midway International Airport (IATA: MDW, ICAO: KMDW, FAA LID: MDW), typically referred to as Midway Airport, Chicago Midway, or simply Midway, is a major commercial airport on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, located eight miles (13 km) from the Loop. Established in 1927, Midway served as Chicago's primary airport until the opening of O'Hare International Airport in 1955. Today, Midway is the second-largest airport in Chicago metropolitan area and the state of Illinois, serving 20,844,860 passengers in 2019.