In a filing responding to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) motion to limit flights at Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) revealed that the regulator actually proposed limiting daily flights to 2,400, and not 2,800, as it had previously outlined.
Deeper cuts at ORD
On March 11, 2026, the CDA said in a filing that while ORD supports 2,800 daily flight movements, which has also been acknowledged by the FAA, Bryand Bedford, the administrator of the FAA, had proposed to limit the airport’s movements to 2,400 during the upcoming summer season.
According to the CDA, Bedford “claimed that construction impacts on the airfield during Summer 2026 will be worse than those in Summer 2025, and that ORD suffered from excessive rates of delays during Summer 2025.”
The city’s aviation department disagreed. First, the CDA noted that, with the expansion of runways, the addition of new taxilanes, and efforts to ensure it has enough gate space to meet demand, the airport has been able to “operate safely at the present rate of about 2,800 operations per day.”
Any cap lower than this number is “unwarranted, and would lead to significant disruption to the National Airspace System (NAS),” the CDA continued.
Second, the Department addressed Bedford’s claims about excessive delays at ORD. The CDA highlighted that, on a per-operation basis, the airport ranked 15th in the United States for delays.
“Other airports that are more delayed have not been subject to scheduling restrictions.”
The CDA said that, even if the FAA imposes a cap at ORD, it should expire by September 1 or earlier if the third taxilane into the Southport is completed before that date.
Cirium’s Diio Mi shows that airlines have scheduled up to 3,000 daily movements from/to ORD on some days in June and July, and a limit of 2,400 movements would result in around 20% reduction from what is currently scheduled at the airport.
The airport has become a battleground between American Airlines and United Airlines.
United Airlines’ long-term goal is to push American Airlines out of ORD, or at least force it to de-hub at the airport, while American Airlines, which had prioritized other hubs following the pandemic, has tried to rebuild its capacity, and thus acquire more gate space, at the airport, accusing United Airlines of dumping capacity at ORD.
Rytis Beresnevicius
Efficiency measures
Instead of limiting flight movements at ORD, the CDA said that the FAA, itself, and other stakeholders establish a working group to discuss solutions to problems as they arise, it said.
Furthermore, the CDA took a jab at the FAA, noting that ORD’s current eight-runway system is not used efficiently. According to the Department, the regulator, which employs air traffic controllers (ATCs) in the US, underutilizes one of the runways for departures, “which is inconsistent with [the] FAA’s anticipated airfield use in its 202 Terminal Area Plan Environmental Assessment.”
The reliance on runway 9L/27R for arrivals “results in longer taxi times,” with the CDA proposing using 9C/27C “for arrivals during off-peak hours,” which could slash taxi times and congestion at the airport.
“The full and efficient use of ORD’s runways during peak periods would improve aircraft flow, reducing taxi times over current conditions.”
The CDA also asked the FAA for more resources, highlighting that ORD is the busiest airport in the US by the number of operations. As such, it should be the “FAA’s #1 priority for staffing and technology.”
According to the city’s aviation department, despite the US government allocating funds for ATC hiring and upgrades, “controller staffing at ORD is well below the targets established by the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization (ATO).”
ORD’s Tower needs 71 controllers but has only 57, Chicago Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) needs 102 but has only 77, and Chicago Center needs 321 and has 273.
The CDA ended its statement by saying that Bedford’s proposed cuts to daily movements from/to ORD, which is “below its proven, manageable capacity is a regressive step that will negatively impact our nation’s travel and flow of cargo operations.”
In early March, the FAA held meetings with operators to discuss the situation at ORD, saying in a notice informing stakeholders about the event that it has determined that the airport’s schedules will exceed its capacity during the summer 2026 season.
In the notice, the FAA said that it proposed to limit ORD’s movements to 2,800 per day, which is “manageable given the current infrastructure and staffing resources available at ORD.”
Rytis Beresnevicius
