<h2 class="blog-hed2 pb-lg-4 pb-3 text-lg-center">History Chicago Rockford International Airport</h2>
<p class="blog-para">RFD traces its history to 1917, when Camp Grant was established by the U.S. Army as one of the largest military training facilities in the United States.</p>
<p class="blog-para">At the end of 1923, the Army closed Camp Grant as an active facility, transferring it to the Illinois National Guard. In 1941, the facility was reactivated by the Army. During World War II, Camp Grant served as one of the largest Army induction and training centers in the United States, training medical personnel, and serving as a prisoner of war confinement center. Following the end of the war, the facility served as a separation center. In 1946, Camp Grant was shut down for the second (and final) time.</p>
<p class="blog-para">On May 31, 2016, Air Berlin ceased its flights to Abu Dhabi. In October 2016, Air Berlin announced it would close its maintenance facilities at the airport due to cost-cutting and restructuring measures.</p>
<p class="blog-para">In July 2020, Lauda announced the closure of their base at Stuttgart Airport, which has been operated as a wet lease for Ryanair, by October 2020. Prior to this announcement, the base staff rejected a new labor agreement. In October 2021, Delta Air Lines terminated their service to Atlanta after being suspended since 2020 and nearly 35 years of service, leaving the airport without any scheduled long-haul operations. However, this route resumed in March 2023 after a three-year hiatus, albeit reduced to a seasonal service.</p>
<p class="blog-para">After World War II, Illinois adopted the Airport Authority Act; the Greater Rockford Airport Authority was created in 1946. In 1948, the Camp Grant land was officially transferred to the airport authority from the federal government. Of the 5,460 acres (plus a 6,000 acre rifle range) of Camp Grant, the airport authority acquired the western 1,500 acres of the facility,[10] bordered by the Rock River to the north and the Kishwaukee River to the south. In 1954, construction commenced on the airport and terminal.</p>
<p class="blog-para">The airport demolished the final remaining Camp Grant buildings on the airport property in 1974. In an effort to expand passenger airline service, the current passenger terminal was built in 1987. United Parcel Service opened the first of two cargo facilities at the airport in 1994. While its centralized location in northern Illinois was a selling point for cargo service, scheduled passenger airline service struggled, ending in 2001. In the 1980s and 1990s, Rockford had passenger service to O'Hare Airport, but many passengers considered bus service or driving to Chicago a viable alternative. In 2003, the airport restored passenger service; instead of offering regional service to Chicago or elsewhere in the Midwest, the airport presented itself as an alternative for leisure-based travelers, offering low-cost flights to Florida.</p>
<p class="blog-para">Coleman Air Transport had a small hub at RFD in the late 1970s with Grumman Gulfstream Is and was planning to introduce Douglas DC-9-10 nonstop to New York LaGuardia Airport before losing its operating certificate and going out of business.</p>
<h2 class="blog-hed2 pb-lg-4 pt-2 pb-3">Facilities Chicago Rockford International Airport</h2>
<p class="blog-para">Chicago Rockford International Airport covers 2,900 acres (1,200 ha) and has two runways, both with an ILS: 1/19 is 8,200 x 150 ft. (2,499 x</p>
<p><img class="img-fluid p-lg-0 rounded w-100" title="History Chicago Rockford International Airport" src="../../../main/img/airport/chicago/10.webp" alt="History Chicago Rockford International Airport"></p>