by Donald Wood
Last updated: 7:55 AM ET, Fri March 6, 2026
To combat delays and airline overscheduling, the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) announced plans to cut a few hundred additional
daily flights at Chicago O'Hare airport this summer.
According to Reuters.com,
FAA officials originally proposed a daily limit of 2,800 at O'Hare for the
summer, but are now considering dropping it to around 2,500 per day.
Chicago O'Hare airport operated 2,680 daily flights last
summer. The FAA has already met with officials from American Airlines, United Airlines,
and other carriers operating out of the Chicago airport, but the agency said
the “number remains under discussion” and expects to hold another meeting next
week.
Airlines are currently scheduling 2026 to become the busiest
summer ever at O'Hare, but the FAA said the flight plan would “stress the
runway, terminal, and air traffic control systems.”
FAA officials said “more cuts are needed to ensure flights
are not disrupted” for the summer flight season, which starts March 29 and runs
through October 25.
As part of the carriers’ current 2026 plan, American’s daily
departures would rise from 484 last summer to 526 this summer, while United’s would
jump from 541 last summer to 780 this summer.
According to Reuters, American notified employees this week
that United's “reckless” scheduling at O'Hare will lead to “long taxi times,
extensive tarmac delays, missed customer connections, disrupted crew sequencing
and cascading disruptions across the system.”
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