Chicago Rockford International Airport Welcomes Vice President and Challenger within 12 Hours
Facilities at RFD Provide Access for VP Candidates to Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin
Rockford, IL – Secret Service and law enforcement officials were a common sight at the Chicago Rockford International Airport (RFD) yesterday as the facility handled flights from Vice President Joe Biden as well as vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan within a 12 hour window. The airport first handled an unplanned departure flight for Ryan at approximately 9 a.m. after the candidate was visiting his home in Janesville, Wis. Hours later, Vice President Biden arrived at RFD onboard Air Force Two to travel to a campaign engagement in Beloit, Wis.
Prior to Biden’s arrival, an Air Force C-17 flew into RFD containing the vice presidential cars and Secret Service equipment.
“These flights give us a great opportunity to show off the responsiveness and capabilities of the airport. We were able to prepare for Paul Ryan’s flight within a matter of hours, which says a lot about our operations team here at RFD,” said RFD Director Mike Dunn. “It gives us great pride to be selected to handle these flights and shows that our reputation for being a convenient, hassle-free airport is being heard by the top officials in the country.”
While in Rockford, Ryan commented to Dunn that he frequently uses RFD for family vacations to Denver via Frontier Airlines.
Tuesday marked the second time in 2012 that RFD has hosted an aircraft from the president fleet. A Boeing C-40 that is to transport top officials was among the many static aircraft displays at RFD’s AirFest in June.
This visit adds to the list of high-profile guests that have recently utilized RFD. In September, the European Ryder Cup used RFD before traveling to Medinah Country Club for the biennial competition. The airport is also accustomed to accommodating flights carrying top officials that require confidentiality and tight security. In June, RFD handled a refueling stop for an aircraft carrying the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a delegation of Turkish officials en route to the G20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico. In 2009, Oprah Winfrey selected RFD as the airport to launch the departure and return of five full charter flights carrying her team of more than 1,600 employees and associates for her company-provided trip to Barcelona, Spain.
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