FAA planning to reduce flights at O'Hare International Airport amid surge by United and American airlines

The Federal Aviation Administration plans to reduce flights at O'Hare International Airport, citing significant increases in scheduled flights.

Sources said the move to limit flights at one of the nation's busiest airports was prompted by concerns that capacity and operational delay issues which played out over last summer at Newark Liberty International Airport would spread to O'Hare.

Amid a rapid escalation in flights operated by United and American airlines pushing O'Hare beyond capacity, the FAA administrator decided capping flights would be necessary this summer.  

The FAA will hold meetings on March 4 to address the congestion concerns. The goal would be to reduce overscheduling and flight delays.

"Next week's meeting is somewhat unprecedented, in the sense that it's happening in short order about summer travel. People are already booking for that period," said DePaul University transportation professor Joe Schwieterman, who published a paper in December about traffic growth at O'Hare. "We have both American and United expanding, and they're really pushing for market share, and unfortunately it's just overstretching the facility."

Schwieterman said United and American scheduling significantly more flights this summer has been fueled by efforts to win more passengers and get more gates, which the city allocates by flight activity.

On top of that, O'Hare expansion projects and limited air traffic controller resources are prompting the FAA to take action.

"We're going to probably see pressure for airlines to agree to do things voluntarily so we don't have Washington come down with a heavy hand, but it's going to be a stressful moment," Schwieterman said.

According to a document set to publish in the Federal Register next week, the FAA believes the ramp-up of summer flights at O'Hare will exceed the airport's capacity, and the agency plans to cap flights at the airport.

Currently, the FAA says the published schedule of flights at O'Hare exceeds 3,080 total takeoffs and landings on peak days. Last summer, O'Hare peaked at approximately 2,680 total takeoffs and landings.

 "This proposed increase is significant and would stress the runway, terminal, and air traffic control systems at the airport," the FAA writes. 

The FAA intends to limit the number of daily operations at its current level of approximately 2,800 total daily operations, which includes approximately 100 hourly departures and arrives respectively.  

 "This level of operations is manageable given the current infrastructure and staffing resources available at ORD. FAA proposes adopting these same limits throughout the Summer 2026 Scheduling Season to prevent large-scale operational disruption while also allowing air carriers to operate within the airport's demonstrated manageable capacity. FAA will review each 30-minute period between 06:00 and 21:59 local time with carriers to meet the overall hourly proposed scheduling limit," the document says.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford will identify any of those 30-minute periods he considers severely congested, as well as general targets for flight reductions during those periods. 

In a statement, American Airlines commended the FAA "for taking proactive action to ensure the operational integrity of the airfield and airspace in Chicago."

"The FAA now has the opportunity to achieve an improved customer experience for passengers traveling from, to, and through Chicago this summer," an American Airlines spokesperson said.

United Airlines issued the following statement: 

"We appreciate Secretary Duffy and FAA Administrator Bedford's leadership in convening this meeting. We share their commitment to running a safe and reliable operation out of ORD and look forward to a collaborative discussion."

A Chicago Department of Aviation spokesperson said the city "looks forward to continued collaboration with the U.S. Department of Transportation and airline partners in the days ahead to finalize a temporary adjustment to the summer schedule at O'Hare that ensures safe and efficient operations while taking into account current gate availability, air traffic control staffing capacity, and ongoing construction activity."