Gary/Chicago International Airport is a joint civil-military public airport in Gary, in Lake County, Indiana, United States. It is three miles northwest of the city center and 25 miles (40 km) southeast of the Chicago Loop. It is operated by the Gary/Chicago International Airport Authority, the basis for which was formed by the Chicago Gary Airport Compact signed in 1995. Nearby highway connections include I-90, I-80, I-94, I-65 and the Chicago Skyway.Federal Aviation Administration records say the airport had 4,353 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 1,633 in 2009 and 2,143 in 2010. It is in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which called it a non-primary commercial service airport based on enplanements in 2008 (between 2,500 and 10,000 per year) but would be categorized as general aviation based on enplanements in 2010.HistoryGary/Chicago bills itself as the "third airport" for the Chicago metropolitan area, supplementing Chicago's major airports, O'Hare and Midway. Gary/Chicago Airport has been designed with an eye towards growth and the administration is courting airlines aggressively. Numerous businesses, including Boeing, Menards and White Lodging Services, base their corporate aircraft here. A National Guard installation has been built.
