FAA meets with major airlines to discuss reducing flights at O’Hare

 The FAA met with major airlines Wednesday to talk about reducing flights at Chicago O’Hare International Airport from March 29 through Oct. 25.

The summer schedule is set to be the busiest on record, wit 3,100 flights on peak days compared to 2,700 last summer.

The FAA is worried about stress to runways, the terminal and air traffic control.

In a Department of Transportation memo, the agency said it wants to adopt a 2,800 flights per day limit in order to prevent large scale operational disruption and allow air carriers to operate within the airport’s capacity, shaving off flights during peak hours.

This all comes as the battle between American Airlines and United Airlines plays out at O’Hare.

United Airlines has added 200 flights daily and plans to operate over 750 trips a day this summer.

Meanwhile, American Airlines has added 100 flights daily and is planning on pushing over 500 flights a day this summer.

The two airlines are fighting over gate space as O’Hare manages ongoing construction of the new Concourse D.

“It’s a tough situation at O’Hare. Because we’re building a new satellite terminal, we had to take a few gates out of service for that, of course. We want to move ahead with the Terminal Improvement Program and trying to do that with so many flights being added all at once just adds a real complex element to this,” transportation analyst Joe Schwieterman said. “American, United just locked in battle for market share and they’re sort of jealously watching each other to see which one grows. The other airline wants to follow suit and that’s led to this just tremendous expansion.”

Both American Airlines and United Airlines have indicated a commitment to safety and willingness to work with the FAA.

https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/faa-meets-with-major-airlines-to-discuss-reducing-flights-at-ohare/