Alot of news for ORD this week. Eastern will contract it's 777F to run Asia routes for Flexport. Also Swoop will start Canadian service in late May to ORD. This adds to the new service to Canada by Flair airlines.

Also ORD came in second for 2021 aircraft movements after ATL. ORD did lead after May 2021 but had lower movements Jan-Apr and could not make up the numbers.


https://worldairlinenews.com/2022/02...-for-flexport/

https://worldairlinenews.com/2022/02...and-nashville/

Saudia to launch service to Chicago from either Riyadh or Jeddah (not specified) sometime in 2022. An interesting addition.

This is interesting. . . I was just talking with a friend of mine last night who is looking at getting a 3 month visa to SA so he can do his Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and visit with friends/family that live there. . . I wonder if SA has been opening up more to outside tourism as I would find it a tough sell that they have that many pilgrimage or business passengers (thinking Houston would be the more logical destination) to support such a route. . .

. . .

I know that is the definite goal of the Saudi government. I can't imagine to many Americans rushing to KSA. There are enough Muslims around Chicago probably that would utilize it for pilgrimage trips or use it as an alternative to the other Gulf airlines for MENA/Africa/South Asia.

This could be part of the planned growth by the government to grow Saudia into another Emirates style airline. They already have run cargo flights to ORD and ran a passenger flight schedule back in 2020 for several months.

Air India is running the Hyderabad (HYD) flights again with 777-200 equipment to ORD.

New airline Avelo is launching service to MDW from New Haven

“Avelo's in expansion mode again, with Baltimore, Chicago Midway, and Raleigh Durham all to launch at the end of May. When writing ahead of the official announcement, the exact timings aren't known. However, one-way base fares (including only a small personal item) are available to Baltimore from $49, Raleigh Durham from $59, and Chicago from $69. The details:

Baltimore: starts May 26th, 5x weekly (Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays)

Chicago Midway: begins May 26th, 5x weekly (Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays)

Raleigh Durham: starts May 26th, 5x weekly (Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays)”

https://simpleflying.com/avelo-expan...tes-new-haven/

^ MDW has been on a mini-run of picking up new airlines, first allegiant, then frontier coming back, now this (new to me) carrier Avelo out of new haven.


the little airport that could.

New caribbean airline plans service to Chicago (O'hare) later this year:

https://worldairlinenews.com/2022/03...the-caribbean/

Is Qantas Planning A Brisbane-Chicago Re-Launch?

“Despite no word from Qantas, the CEO of Brisbane Airport recently hinted the delayed Brisbane - Chicago flights may finally start later this year.“

https://simpleflying.com/qantas-plan...ago-re-launch/

Aer Lingus Adds Back Service to Three More US Cities

“ The airline is also increasing frequencies on existing routes from Dublin to both Chicago O’Hare and Washington Dulles.

Aer Lingus will also start a second daily flight between DUB and Washington Dulles (IAD) from June 9, marking the first time Aer Lingus has operated 2X-daily service to IAD. Chicago O’Hare (ORD) will see a second frequency, to be operated 5X-weekly, to complement current daily service on the route from DUB.”

https://www.routesonline.com/news/29...ore-us-cities/

Busiest Airports In The World By Passenger Traffic 2021
 

The rankings for busiest airports in the world for 2021 just came out. Chicago O'Hare came in 4th for passenger traffic. Also, US airports dominated the rankings this year.

Busiest Airports In The World 2021 (By Passenger Traffic):
1.) Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (USA) - 75,537,213 passengers
2.) Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (USA) - 62,465,756 passengers
3.) Denver International Airport (USA) - 58,828,552 passengers
4.) Chicago O'Hare International Airport (USA) - 54,020,399 passengers
5.) Los Angeles International Airport (USA) - 48,007,284 passengers
6.) Charlotte Douglas International Airport (USA) - 43,302,230 passengers
7.) Orlando International Airport (USA) - 40,351,068 passengers
8.) Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (China) - 40,249,679 passengers
9.) Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport (China) - 40,117,496 passengers
10.) Harry Reid International Airport (USA) - 39,710,493 passengers
11.) Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (USA) - 38,846,713 passengers
12.) Miami International Airport (USA) - 37,302,456 passengers
13.) Istanbul Airport (Turkey) - 36,988,563 passengers
14.) Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (China) - 36,358,185 passengers
15.) Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (USA) - 36,154,015 passengers
16.) Mexico City International Airport (Mexico) - 36,056,614 passengers
17.) Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (China) - 35,766,284 passengers
18.) George Bush Intercontinental Airport (USA) - 33,677,118 passengers
19.) Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (China) - 33,207,337 passengers
20.) Beijing Capital International Airport (China) - 32,639,013 passengers

For comparison, here was the list from 2020:
Source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...senger_traffic

For reference, ATL was #1 in 2019 with 110,531,300 and O'hare was #6 at 84,372,618.

#50 in 2019 was Narita with 44,340,847, which would have been good enough for #6 this year. Still a very different environment that we're in.

We got a lot of climbing to do to get back to #1, lol. Honestly, may not be achievable anymore, and we really haven't been competitive with Atlanta in terms of passenger numbers for many years. Hopefully as the Modernization Plan reaches completion, we can at least get back to a solid #2 spot.

Well O'Hare has to split flights with Midway. Atlanta has one single big airport.

^ even with MDW's numbers, Chicago still trails the mighty ATL.

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

Because Delta uses Atlanta as its only real mega-midcontinental hub. Detroit/Minneapolis play ancillary roles but nothing compared to the division that true mega-hubs in Dallas/Chicago divide work for American Airlines or that Denver/Chicago do for United.

Mega-airports like LAX, NYC, SFO, Miami, etc. will always be huge, especially for connecting international traffic but they will never be used primarily as spoke hubs to connect the nation's interior the same way mid-continent hubs are.

A lot of it is cargo and international freight. Airports have limited capacity, and O’Hare is extremely desirable for passenger, cargo and international freight.

While in the Southeast, Atlanta handles most of the regional passenger flights, and Miami handles most of the cargo and freight.

https://aci.aero/wp-content/uploads/...e-decran-5.png
https://aci.aero/2020/05/19/aci-reve...aft-movements/

O'Hare Airport ‘People Mover' Passenger Trains Return to 24-Hour Service
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/loca...rvice/2809227/

Shuttle buses will still provide 24-hour service through May 1... Does anyone know if that includes rental car shuttles for Hertz, Enterprise? The traffic chaos could be reduced even if just slightly, if the number of buses/shuttles around the terminals were reduced. And they should be with the ATS now providing direct access to the consolidated rental car intermodal facility.