The curious case of a small Illinois airport where millions are spent but only one plane flies

Just north of the Indiana Toll Road, off Cline Avenue, sits the Gary/Chicago International Airport. Its name sounds substantial. Its annual budget is in the millions of dollars. And Chicagoans — along with citizens of Gary — spend millions in tax dollars every year to help keep it in business.

But in spite of an annual operating budget of more than $3 million — plus tens of millions more being spent on a runway expansion and other capital projects — the GCIA terminal sits mostly empty. The front entrance is usually locked; the parking lot is nearly vacant, and the skies are — for the most part — empty.