Jon Hilkevitch

Airline pilots should barricade themselves inside the cockpit at the first hint of a security threat and fly toward the nearest airport, leaving flight attendants trained in self-defense and armed with "non-lethal" weapons to subdue hijackers, two federal...

Flanked by a pair of shimmering passenger jets, President Bush led a patriotic rally outside a hangar at O'Hare International Airport about two weeks after last year's terrorist attacks, assuring travelers that it was safe to "get on board and do your...

Argenbright Security Inc., already under fire for lax procedures and security failures, on Tuesday was dealing with new lapses by its screeners at two major airports. A chef from Hong Kong was charged with unlawful use of a weapon after a United Airlines...

In a potentially fatal blow to one of the Daley administration's top projects, the nation's two largest airlines said Tuesday that they no longer can afford to invest in a $3.6 billion plan for new passenger terminals and aircraft gates at O'Hare...

As the Federal Aviation Administration for the first time prepared to impose tougher standards on the companies hired by the airlines to screen passengers and baggage, some members of Congress questioned whether those measures would be sufficient to fix...

A rationing of airline flights and even higher ticket prices may be coming as industry officials and federal regulators try to ease the crunch at the nation's most congested airports. The options under discussion range from strictly limiting flights at...

The Federal Aviation Administration, acknowledging that not enough is known about the backgrounds of airline industry employees, said Wednesday that it will require criminal record checks on an estimated 1 million workers who have access to passenger...

Private planes will be allowed to take off and land at O'Hare International and Midway Airports Thursday for the first time since last week's fatal hijackings, but passengers will encounter the same tougher security-screening measures now required on...

Two security workers were fired Wednesday for allegedly stealing a pair of pocketknives confiscated from a traveler at O'Hare International Airport, and their supervisor was also dismissed, according to the company that employed the workers. Another...

The CTA's broken promise to keep all rail stations open during the Brown Line renovation has been traced to staff errors that undermined the plan, according to a preliminary report by the transit agency's internal watchdog. CTA officials were slow to buy...

Forced to choose among five painful packages of service cuts and fare hikes, the Chicago Transit Authority board opted Wednesday for a surprise sixth plan that is certain to put the crunch on rush-hour commuters: a modified Sunday transit schedule that...

For 15 agonizing hours, Mirth Gault and her three children shivered without jackets in the twisted wreckage of their chartered plane, praying and waiting for daylight. Not far away, inside the plane's severed cockpit, were the bodies of the pilot and a...