CHICAGO: ORD & MDW discussion

[OrdoSeclorum]

Originally Posted by chiphile

http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayi...t-of/22125499/


Chicago O'Hare retakes 'world's busiest' title … sort of

"O'Hare has overtaken Atlanta last year based on the number of flight operations...
...Atlanta is expected to remain the world's busiest in terms of passenger count. That, the Chicago Sun-Times notes, is 'the traditional yardstick by which the title of 'world's busiest' has been bestowed.'"

---

Of course, passenger numbers are all that matter, and I don't think it's possible without serious terminal expansion (the entire western half of the airport still sits empty, but may never get developed, who knows).

Why do passenger numbers matter more?

Passenger do numbers matter. Maybe they matter more than takeoffs and landings. Certainly not all that matters. I'd rather have an airport serving 100 passengers going to 10 destinations than 200 passengers serving 5. Connectivity matters a lot, since that's what makes it an important hub. Heck, if all we care about is how many people land in the city and not connectivity we might as well add the number of passengers that fly into Midway to Ohare's total as well.

[F1 Tommy]

AA 787 should be visiting ORD in a month or so.

Atleast 3 airlines want to bring A380's into ORD. What a joke that they don't have the ability to handle them yet. Almost every other world class airport in the US can.

[kbud]

Originally Posted by F1 Tommy

AA 787 should be visiting ORD in a month or so.

Atleast 3 airlines want to bring A380's into ORD. What a joke that they don't have the ability to handle them yet. Almost every other world class airport in the US can.

I completely agree. And there isn't enough space in T5. AA this upcoming summer was goinog to fly their 77W from ORD to LHR but because of the lack of gate space they have to switch to the 763. They will have really shrunk their total seats from ORD to LHR with this move and the fact they aren't adding a 4th flight this summer.

[ih8spires]

Cargo flights matter too and they don't show up in passenger counts.

[k1052]

I seem to recall that some of the initial environmental review and design work has been completed for T6 so the Aviation Dept could basically have it in their hip pocket for when the time comes politically.

Assuming Rham is re-elected, given his focus on international tourism/business, I think it's entirely possible that international capacity will be expanded via the T6 plans in his next term. United/American won't complain too much if LCC access to the new gates is at least somewhat limited and they (plus alliance airlines) will utilize the capacity...better for them than a whole new western terminal.

Several things have been held back recently like the new concessions contracts, lease of the divested American gates in the L concourse, etc seemingly until after the election. I'm sure the mayor doesn't want any distractions right now.

[N830MH]

Originally Posted by kbud

I completely agree. And there isn't enough space in T5. AA this upcoming summer was goinog to fly their 77W from ORD to LHR but because of the lack of gate space they have to switch to the 763. They will have really shrunk their total seats from ORD to LHR with this move and the fact they aren't adding a 4th flight this summer.

Right! It won't happens in a distant future. A380 will not be at ORD for a quite long time. They don't have enough room. I think the airlines will be operated 77W for now, but not an A380. The A380 is out of questions. Please no more talking about A380 at ORD.

[ardecila]

The airlines reap what they sow... They opposed a terminal expansion to keep competition out, but now they have no room to expand themselves.

I won't support my tax dollars going to finance a whole terminal expansion so American can bring in the latest jumbo jet on a handful of routes.

[F1 Tommy]

Originally Posted by N830MH

Right! It won't happens in a distant future. A380 will not be at ORD for a quite long time. They don't have enough room. I think the airlines will be operated 77W for now, but not an A380. The A380 is out of questions. Please no more talking about A380 at ORD.

You will see A380's at ORD sooner than you think. The city will be forced to make a T5 gate A380 compatible soon.

[N830MH]

Originally Posted by F1 Tommy

You will see A380's at ORD sooner than you think. The city will be forced to make a T5 gate A380 compatible soon.

Well, it's official!!!

Here is the PR:

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/art...-ohare-408590/

See? Told ya?

Chicago O’Hare International airport aims to have two gates capable of handling the Airbus A380 ready by the middle of 2016, as it courts additional international service.

Design work is underway on upgrading two existing gates at each end of terminal 5 at O’Hare to handle the A380, says Matthew Danaher, director of airline and industry relations at O’Hare operator the Chicago Department of Aviation, on the sidelines of the Routes Americas conference in Denver.

EK, KE, BA, and LH is possibilities to bring A380 into ORD.

[N830MH]

http://www.aviationpros.com/news/118...ights-to-ohare

Frontier Airlines just announces 4 more new routes from O'Hare.

[Kngkyle]

If only it were real....

[N830MH]

Originally Posted by Kngkyle

If only it were real....

Never mind! I can see a pictures. Thanks!

I can see United & Star Alliance partners will moved into new Western Terminal instead of the main terminal. I think it is right choice and they don't have to towed the plane from terminal 5 to United terminals anymore.

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by Kngkyle

If only it were real....

Uhh, what is this from?? I like it and wish it was real...is it your design?

[Kngkyle]

^^ Yea I just threw it together quickly in photoshop for fun.

[N830MH]

Originally Posted by Kngkyle

^^ Yea I just threw it together quickly in photoshop for fun.

Take it off!!! They don't want to see that.

[Chicarchitecture]

Does anyone know when construction will begin on the new O'Hare rental car / parking facility on Mannheim Road? It seems like this should of started by now.

[chiphile]

Originally Posted by Kngkyle

If only it were real....

Awesome photoshop work. I think it's gross negligence that the city is just sitting on this land--large enough to fit the entire Denver terminal in it! The fact that this is ignored in the media shows how map illiterate our society is.

You're smart to have made that into the new United hub. Why would American or United pay for a western terminal for someone else to have a brand new terminal at O'Hare? The city is so moronic with its insistence on more new airlines. Hubs make airports, not three Spirit airlines flights to podunkville.

Also, if you're interested in doing another rendering, get rid of that middle diagonal runway, it's useless... just make the new western terminal merge into terminals one and two and give United all of it.

[BVictor1]

http://my.chicagotribune.com/#sectio.../p2p-83317669/

Grow O'Hare to 10 runways? State Senate says it's solution to jet noise problem

Jon Hilkevitch
6:13 pm, April 16, 2015

The Illinois Senate unanimously approved legislation Thursday designed to mitigate jet noise around O'Hare International Airport by increasing the cap on the number of runways to 10 from eight, and prohibiting the city of Chicago from closing and demolishing any of the airport's four diagonal runways.

Two bills introduced by state Sen. John Mulroe are aimed at expanding O'Hare flight paths to reduce jet noise that has been saturating some Chicago neighborhoods and western suburbs since late 2013, when O'Hare air-traffic patterns changed. The two bills are headed to the House for consideration.

If the legislation is passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by the governor, it's still unclear whether Chicago officials would call off the scheduled closure of one diagonal runway in four months and work with the Federal Aviation Administration to disperse the more than 2,400 daily flights at O'Hare across a wider number of runways pointing in a variety of directions.

[ardecila]

^^ Great... our boneheaded legislature will mandate a delay-prone configuration for ORD with crossing runways. That'll do wonders to keep carriers and attract new routes...

Hopefully Rauner is smart enough not to hobble O'Hare, or at least to line-item veto the provision about keeping the diagonal runways open.

[lubicon]

Stupid move. But just because they would not allow the diagonal runways to be closed doesn't mean they have to use them. So keep 'em open on paper, just never use them.