Not sure if this was mentioned previously but British Airways brought back daily A380 service to O'Hare the other day! Hopefully we will see Emirates follow soon.

T5 New Lounges?
 

Other than a new Delta Club at T5, will there be other new lounges going in? I think British Airways, SAS, Swissair, KLM/Air France, and Swissport have lounges there now. I'd assume all SkyTeam airlines will now use the new Delta lounge, but I have heard nothing else in regards to new lounges in T5. Before the T5 expansion project was even a plan, one of the biggest complaints was how few lounges and space existed in T5.

If my memory serves me correct, I think the Swiss and SAS lounges are rather small. With other Star Carriers that don't have lounges at T5 (Turkish, Austrian, Ethiopian, Air New Zealand, Air India) I wonder if they can handle the traffic.

Would Emirates put a lounge in for just one flight per day? Qatar? Qater at least has two flights per day.

I think there's a lounge for British Airways, but from what I recall when I flew to London last Sep., it was closed. So.... I would assume they are redoing lounges for at least some airlines. I would absolutely love to see an Emirates lounge at O'Hare...... There's only a couple BA flights out of T5, so I see no reason why Emirates (with all of their gushing Emirates support) couldn't have a flashy lounge at an airport the size of O'Hare. According to their website, Air France is their partner lounge.

And I too would love to see Emirates bring the 380 to Chicago. It's the perfect excuse to book a ticket to Dubai. Of course... I would have to get a business class ticket to get in on that top floor bar. Anyone looking to buy an organ? :runaway:

Once the Terminal 5 expansion completes in a few months, there will be a second A380 capable gate so it would definitely be possible for another airline to bring the A380 to ORD when that happens.

The thing to remember is that Oneworld and Star Alliance airlines will relocate to the Global Terminal when that completes later this decade, so those airlines would likely wait to open new lounges in the Global Terminal when it's completed.

As far as Skyteam and non-affiliated carriers go, haven't herd of any plans for new lounges aside from the new Delta Skyclub, so we'll just have to wait and see.

I could definitely see Emirates build a lounge at ORD. They have lounges at most of the US airports they serve including JFK, BOS, SFO, and LAX. Perhaps they will build one by the second A380 gate when the T5 expansion completes.

Midfield Tunnel underway?
 

Was flying in and out of Ohare two weeks ago and noticed a bunch of digging and construction work on the tarmac out by the C concourse.

Is this perhaps the beginning of the tunnel for the second mid-field terminal extension? It doesn't really look like the right location.

They were breaking up the concrete on the tarmac and had about 12 different pieces of equipment.

That would be the "Taxiway K/L Grade Separation" project listed here:
https://www.tpapord.com/projects/

They are still working on approvals for the global terminal and remote gates. Draft Environmental Assessment just came out. This needs to be approved before they can start any of the remaining major announced projects::
https://www.faa.gov/airports/great_lakes/TAPandATEA/

The Canadians are coming. Today at ORD, Swoop 737-800. This is the low cost Westjet owned startup.

Flair also started YYZORD service last month but are pulling out due to so many other Canadian carriers jumping on the band wagon.

AA/UA/AC also added more service to Canada along with Westjet adding a Dash 8 turboprop in the afternoon. Porter also has Dash 8 service to MDW.

Icelandair also upgrading flights to 757-300 now daily with a second flight several times a week using a 737 Max to Iceland.

https://www.airlinefan.com/airline-p...-GYSD/1626545/

Sadly, the O'Hare global terminal design has been altered pretty significantly; the wooden slat ceiling with glazing reveals was lovely in theory, but far too impractical because not only it would have required large amounts of glass for all of the reveals in between, the amounts of conditioned air required to move through such a large volume would have been massive and impractical and required a very expensive HVAC system that would also have been burdensome to maintain over the years.

I have not seen the latest design since I left my last firm so things may have been changed slightly, but of what I did see last time, the new roof structure is more monolithic with maybe two dozen (or more) punched openings spread throughout the structure. The six-pointed "Chicago star" is still in the middle of the structure, and the overall massing of the terminal is basically the same. Don't know too much about the design of interior spaces other than it is possibly very clean and bright, but I don't think it has the same nuance as the previous Studio Gang design. God is in the details indeed, and who knows, maybe the interior spaces will be very lovely, but we'll see.

While it is unfortunate that the original, competition-winning design was not feasible (especially given current and near-future market conditions), I feel like the Foster and Partners and Calatrava designs would have fared far FAR worse in terms of eventual VE, because those interior volumes were even larger and would have required more complex and expensive mechanical and structural systems.

Honestly, I'm kinda happy it's getting redesigned. Call me boring, but I don't get the love for these wild open air concepts like the Calatrava design. I mean, yeah it looks cool I guess, but the number one job of an airport is to be functional.

I honestly liked the SOM design the best. Sure it might be a little boring compared to the others, but it was functional, efficient, and still looks world class and nice imo. It had a nice balance of high ceilings, big windows letting natural light, and some greenery without being over the top. Plus SOM has more experience with airport design, and it shows compared to the Gang renders imo. The only thing that I don't really care for with the SOM renders are the trees in glass cubes. I think it kinda looks wierd and it should just be trees inside instead.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9f731d7f_c.jpg

https://www.moodiedavittreport.com/w...-rendering.jpg

https://www.som.com/wp-content/uploa...366x1024-c.jpg

Interesting to see what the redesign of the global terminal will look like. I am happy to hear the Chicago star will still be there. I wouldn't miss the wooden part that much. This is an airport, not the Lincoln Park Zoo.

Worth remembering SOM is designing the new satellite terminal. I like like that since we will see two differently designed aspects to all of this.

Etihad Airways flight EY151/EY150 daily service to and from Abu Dhabi (AUH) will upgrade to the larger A350 from a 7879 starting June 30th 2022.

That is great. I missed the news that they were getting rid of their 77Ws last year. Some of those couldn't have been that old. I think one new frame was even delivered to them in 2014. And to think United took delivery of their first 77W in late 2016, and American only a few years earlier.

Not anytime soon. The 777W's will be around for many years at AA/UA and for a few more years at Etihad. The A350-900 is not a direct replacement for the 777W, although the -1000 is pretty close. The 777XX will be.

My comment on the 77Ws leaving was for Etihad. Etihad is already moving to newer designed and more efficient planes while the US carriers will have these older variants well into the future. Below are links from last year.

https://onemileatatime.com/etihad-re...ing-777-fleet/

https://thepointsguy.com/news/eithad-777-retirement/

A new airline, Norse Atlantic, is establishing a UK subsidiary and announced intentions to fly from London Gatwick to Chicago/Rockford Airport. 🤯

https://simpleflying.com/norse-atlantic-uk-plans/

This has to be a typo, no? A trans-continental flight to..... Rockford?

If that's true, those poor passengers who's first impression of the US being Rockford.

They would have to set up passenger customs for the hours this flight comes in. I know they used to have a few passenger flights that required customs but this is a larger aircraft. They also have customs for the freight flights. I bet it goes to ORD.

T5 Turnover
 

Power Construction noted on their instagram (link) on Wednesday that they turned over two new T5 gates for use.

Based on the photos I'm guessing they are using it to help with international arrivals rather than full use (international and domestic arrivals/departures).

Friend of mine sat for 45 minutes a week or two ago waiting for an international gate from her flight back from Greece and appears they clearly need all the international gates they can get with summer travel.

I shudder to think what the customs hall is looking like these days.

Ok.... This looks amazing. I absolutely love the natural light... The ceilings.... Now I have an excuse to make an international flight once they open the entire area. I'm assuming those new gates direct passengers into the existing terminal area, and the open space in the new terminal is still being worked on?