CHICAGO: ORD & MDW discussion

[NikolasM]

Originally Posted by MAC123

Why is Atlanta's Airport bigger than LA's? I know the NYC metro has like 4 airports to spread them out but I don't know about LA

Atlanta is really well located as a cross point between Midwest/Chicago and FL and NYC to points South and West. It can funnel lots of people in different directions. Other airports that could compete are Nashville and Charlotte but their airports are not designed nearly as efficiently as Hartsfield currently is. Also a lot of this is baked in from the early days of commercial flying when airlines did many hops to a destination.

LA is more a destination airport more than a transfer airport. It gets huge numbers for what is does.

[F1 Tommy]

I have never figured out why the media is so focused on passenger traffic alone and never use the movement number more. Perfect example, if they shut down ATL for a week mainly regional east and southeast flights would be affected. If they shut down one of the big cargo hubs ANC, MEM or SDF you would know all over the country it happened. Cargo traffic is just important as passenger traffic, especially in 2020 and 2021.

[jonesrmj]

From the ORD Twitter Page:



Looks like good progress on the Terminal 5 Expansion from above! Can't really tell how far the facade is coming along though. Hopefully the expansion is on track to complete in the summer!

You can see some new jet bridges being added at the bottom of the image!

[jonesrmj]

Inside Chicago O'Hare Airport's $8.5 billion revamp

(CNN) — The city of Chicago has long had one of the world's busiest airport systems.

Before the Jet Age and until the late 1950s, Chicago Midway Airport, in the southwest of the city, was the world's busiest airport by passenger traffic.

Its runways, however, were too short for early jet aircraft, and in the span of just a couple of years all flights migrated to O'Hare, in the northwest, which had longer runways and newly built terminals.

The move made O'Hare take over as the world's busiest airport in 1962, a title it held for over 25 years. The high volume of passengers, however, came at a cost: the airport became notoriously congested.

Penalized by the city's unpredictable weather, the runway configuration that attracted jet aircraft didn't stand the test of time.

By the time O'Hare definitively lost the crown of world's busiest airport -- to Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson in 1998 -- it was famously overcrowded and losing ground on most performance rankings, often ranking low for customer satisfaction.

The only way forward was a radical modernization of the runway system, which began in 2005 and cost $6 billion. Work was completed in 2021, drastically reducing delays and paving the way for a complete makeover of the rest of the airport -- with an additional $8.5 billion investment -- that will transform it "from curb to gate," the city says (and maybe climb back up those rankings).

Read more - https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/c...ver/index.html

[twister244]

Originally Posted by jonesrmj

From the ORD Twitter Page:



Looks like good progress on the Terminal 5 Expansion from above! Can't really tell how far the facade is coming along though. Hopefully the expansion is on track to complete in the summer!

You can see some new jet bridges being added at the bottom of the image!

Great picture! It almost looks as though new bridges are already in use from the expansion, but I'm assuming that's just planes parking there that need a space to park. Also looks like the amenity expansion in the existing portion is coming along nicely.

[Chicagoguy]

Frontier Airlines Kicks Off Its Chicago Midway Flights

“On Thursday, Frontier launched a swag of new routes from Chicago's Midway Airport, locking down that airport's new role as Frontier's key Chicago airport. From zero to hero, Frontier will now fly from Midway (MDW) to Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, Ontario, Phoenix, Tampa, and Trenton. Later in the year, Frontier will begin flights from Midway to Philadelphia, Orlando, and Fort Lauderdale.”

https://simpleflying.com/frontier-ai...idway-flights/

[F1 Tommy]

Chicago might have a problem if the majors don't pick up flying next year. They have limited their flying at ORD shifting to cities like Denver, Charlotte, Atlanta and Dallas still this year so don't look for good numbers in 2022. We still have alot of movements due to the heavy cargo flight counts but I am surprised at the lack of passenger flights compared to 2019.

[ardecila]

Does anyone know the plan for the old Lot E? It's a huge parking lot with an existing ATS people mover station. I don't know why they would just let it sit there abandoned.

[DePaul Bunyan]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Does anyone know the plan for the old Lot E? It's a huge parking lot with an existing ATS people mover station. I don't know why they would just let it sit there abandoned.

No idea but that's a prime spot for a nice shiny new hotel development. Direct access to the ATS would be a huge benefit and they really wouldn't have to lose any parking spots, they could actually add more covered spots as part of a development in conjunction with a new hotel partner and charge more. The Hilton that's connected to the terminals is really getting long in the tooth and could use some competition. It's dark, noisy, dated, and the food offerings are terrible.

[k1052]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Does anyone know the plan for the old Lot E? It's a huge parking lot with an existing ATS people mover station. I don't know why they would just let it sit there abandoned.

I think the bulk of the area is inside the new larger RPZs. IIRC they were originally required to demo the old ATS station once 27C was lengthened but since nothing seems to be happening on that front maybe they are waiting on an FAA decision.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by k1052

I think the bulk of the area is inside the new larger RPZs. IIRC they were originally required to demo the old ATS station once 27C was lengthened but since nothing seems to be happening on that front maybe they are waiting on an FAA decision.

Yeah I know it's inside the RPZ but you can still park cars in the RPZ. I didn't think the station was so tall that it would be a safety issue either.

Seems foolish to throw away a perfectly good parking lot with people-mover access. That station would cost 60M to build new, and it's not even very old - it's newer than the Orange Line! Not to mention the savings you can get from discontinuing the shuttle buses.

[k1052]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Yeah I know it's inside the RPZ but you can still park cars in the RPZ. I didn't think the station was so tall that it would be a safety issue either.

Seems foolish to throw away a perfectly good parking lot with people-mover access. That station would cost 60M to build new, and it's not even very old - it's newer than the Orange Line! Not to mention the savings you can get from discontinuing the shuttle buses.

I agree it should be kept and used if possible. I don't think the aviation department actually wanted to get rid of it but the vertical height of the station roof I think was a concern for the FAA with the longer 27C. Since it has not been demoed yet maybe that's changed or they are waiting for them to decide.

I sort of wish they would push rideshare pickup out to this spot so pickups don't clog the departure level curbs.

[kbud]

Has there been any details provided on the new Delta Club at T5? I couldn’t find anything other than an opening this fall. Is it safe to assume it will double as a Sky Team lounge too?

Also, are there any other details about the interior of The expanded T5, such as other lounges going in, or even expanded lounges?

What is the latest completion date?

[twister244]

Originally Posted by kbud

Has there been any details provided on the new Delta Club at T5? I couldn’t find anything other than an opening this fall. Is it safe to assume it will double as a Sky Team lounge too?

Also, are there any other details about the interior of The expanded T5, such as other lounges going in, or even expanded lounges?

What is the latest completion date?

I had assumed the end of the year? I flew out of T5 earlier this week and it still looked like things were under construction. I wasn't able to get a close look since the T5 security checkpoint situation is currently fucked if you have a few groups of flights close together. I waited in line for 50 minutes and almost missed boarding my SW flight. I'm assuming it will be much better after T5 is done and they move Delta flights over.

I fly back Sunday evening and will try to see if anything looks close to done.

[F1 Tommy]

Flair Canada started service today with a 737 MAX to Toronto. Nice bright colors contrast the dull US mainline colors.

Also Icelandair upgraded to 757-300 aircraft to Chicago this week.

[r18tdi]

O'Hare overhaul moving forward, delayed to 2030
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/airl...erhaul-delayed

[nomarandlee]

Not sure if it was included in that article or not but the groundbreaking on the new six-level parking garage at Terminal 5 broke ground today.

[N830MH]

Originally Posted by kbud

Has there been any details provided on the new Delta Club at T5? I couldn’t find anything other than an opening this fall. Is it safe to assume it will double as a Sky Team lounge too?

Actually, they will opened in September. Delta will move to T5 on September 10.

Originally Posted by r18tdi

O'Hare overhaul moving forward, delayed to 2030
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/airl...erhaul-delayed

Ummm, what?? What's going on?? They still awaits from FAA approval. They will be approved real soon.

[jonesrmj]

Originally Posted by r18tdi

O'Hare overhaul moving forward, delayed to 2030
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/airl...erhaul-delayed

Paywall behind article, can someone post details?

Also, great to see the A380 back at ORD! British Airways restarted its daily LHR-ORD A380 service on June 1st 2022!

[galleyfox]

Originally Posted by jonesrmj

Paywall behind article, can someone post details?

Also, great to see the A380 back at ORD! British Airways restarted its daily LHR-ORD A380 service on June 1st 2022!

Nothing too serious. The pandemic delayed all the federal regulatory agencies, so the clock resets as everything works through the regulatory queue.

The delay in the completion date isn’t a surprise, given the pandemic's devastating impact on aviation and the amount of time that it’s taken for the environmental review of the project. Construction has yet to begin on the new terminals, and the design is not finished.

The terminal project, which follows a massive expansion of O’Hare’s runways that was just completed, was approved by the city four years ago. It was expected to be completed in 2028, but the project is only about 10% designed.

The terminal expansion consists of “nearly 100 separate projects that must be coordinated alongside each other and in consultation with federal and airline partners,” the Department of Aviation said. “The date for program completion will continue to fluctuate based off each of these complex factors. What’s important to remember is that aspects of O’Hare 21 will continue to open in phases over the next decade.”