[QUOTE=Meddle;253425]The whole bit about Southwest and closing E. McNichols trying to fake it as an airport. Doomed to failure from before the drawing board. Should have been left as a corporate and general aviation facility. And should be restored to that now. A typical Coleman farce.







As I remember it, this was being done at the same time that Chicago was having plenty of success with Midway Airport doing the same thing. The plan was to install a longer runway to accomodate the demand for larger commercial aircraft. There was actually a very thorough airport master plan that was put together. The City Council back then balked at that plan during the same time period that they turned down letting Comerica build their headquarters were a vacant Ford Auditorium is still standing.

After the City Council said no to developing the Airport, Northwest Airlines, which had shown a very strong interest in setting up some operations at City Airport, ended up having to work out a much more expensive expansion [[450+ million) at Metro Airport. Had City Council said yes, the City of Detroit would probably have at least a half dozen major airlines operating out of city airport along with the corporate and general aviation operators that packed up and went to the Oakland County International Airport, due to the fact, that the new larger plans that they were acquiring could not be accomodated by city airport either. Subsequently, making Oakland County's airport one of the busiest in the country at that time and still very busy today.

Like I said, Coleman had his faults. But having a vision to turn City Airport into a real airport wasn't one of them.