^ yeah, from my understanding, the plan is essentially to create two airports within the airport:

airport #1: T1, T2, & T3 for united & american and all of their star alliance & one world buddies (the main course airport).

airport #2: T5 for delta and skyteam, along with all other unaffiliated internationals and domestic LCCs (the leftovers airport).




in other news, according to a post over at airliners.net, today is the day that angled runway 15/33 (the old 14R/32L) is supposed to finally close at ORD.

this will leave the airport with its current 5 (eventually 6) east-west parallel runways, and the two NE-SW angled runways (4L/22R & 4R/22L).

btw, are there any other airports in the world with 6 parallel runways? i know many have 4, a few have 5, but i've never heard of 6 parallels. would ORD be the first?

That terminal configuration in the latest rendering looks incredible and more in line with modern airport design. Still wish they went all the way west though with two additional concourses. That damn diagonal runway that receives 2% of landings still doesn’t make sense to me as it eliminates half of one of the new concourses.

I count approximately 194 gates in the rendering. Right now ohare has 182 gates. So this isn’t an expansion as much as a realignment of gates. At $8.5 billion, these 12 additional net gates must be the most expensive in history at $700 million each. Even if the rendering is a conservative estimation of gates, the total number likely won’t exceed 200-210. A welcome update to the terminal complex nevertheless. Maybe with full build out we see 85 to 90 million pax per year.

Dallas, Houston, and Atlanta are very close to Ohare in international passengers and may eventually pull ahead. I do not consider them peer cities in terms of global connections. Ohare should be at 15 million International pax and be ahead of SFO as it has always historically been ahead of SFO by a million or so international pax. If the 10-12 new gates are all international then that should make the difference.

The two remaining diagonals will still be needed for certain wind conditions that exceed crosswind limits, although that's expected to be a very small percentage of time.

It's more gates than that, should meet the 220 figure when this phase is done. Don't take the renderings too literally. They show a ton of 4 engine aircraft too...

p sure shell (hq in netherlands) dominates in nigeria

That rendering looks pretty good, it represents current parking layouts accurately. I agree it over estimates gates for jumbos at terminal 5 though, which will need more room for Delta and Spirit. That said I’d say we’re lucky if it tops out at 220 gates.

Keep that diagonal runway, just shorten that stub that is wiping out half an entire concourse. Heavy jets can handle crosswinds and only smaller regionals would ever have to use that runway, thus shortening is feasible, no?

Also, anyone know the economics of business case for an airline to build its own terminal rather than leasing gates? Didn’t jet blue build its own at JFK? No minimum usage demands by the city, exclusivity, architecture branding opportunity... wish united had a couple billion.

jetBlue basically had to build their own terminal at JFK if they wanted to have a hub at JFK. All the other carriers would riot and veto any plan that would put the cost of a new terminal for a competitor on their shoulders. You saw this happen in Chicago when the city was talking about building a Western terminal for low cost carriers. United, American, and Delta all got together and killed that idea. If a low cost carrier wanted to open a large hub at O'Hare they'd need to build their own terminal as well.

The reason this O'Hare plan works and is being funded not by the airlines themselves but by the airport passenger fees is because all of the carriers are getting something out of it. You saw the fit American threw when they believed it slightly favored United. Props to the city for threading the needle to get them all on board in the end.

I was going to say DFW but then remembered it is only 5 parallel. However all 7 runways there can be used simultaneously I believe. Denver might one day.

So, I am hearing the new L-stinger gates will open on April 16th.

Also, it seems the ATS upgrades are not going well. The original plan was for the CONRAC and ATS to open by the end of this year, but sounds like the CONRAC may open with bus service only, With the ATS extension completed sometime next year. City of Chicago document below as reference:

https://www.cityofchicago.org/conten...Associates.pdf

I'd be interested to know how they could possibly be a year behind on the ATS extension. What happened?

I don't understand why ATS extension is not done yet? They are not ready to open it up for this year.

As for L concourse extension, that's very good to hear. Hopefully they will open it up sometime in a few week or so.

Finally!!! Both ORD & MDW now offer free unlimited wifi.

http://abc7chicago.com/travel/chicag...ernet/3378741/

It's long overdue!

yeah WTF what up with that
also what about the elon musk tunnel thing?

https://s17.postimg.cc/ys6qrhizj/304...76753369_o.jpg
https://s17.postimg.cc/oi4bs8le7/299...08577952_o.jpg
https://s17.postimg.cc/99eeegca7/299...69097280_o.jpg
https://s17.postimg.cc/4aqvzy3cf/308...06145227_o.jpg
All photos from F.H. Paschen

Wow! Those pics looks great! Thank you so much for sharing this. I will be at ORD in June.

I guess no one will be connecting to Terminal 5 per the new signage. Seems like a miss.

You're right! How foolish!

Could it be because these are American and American international flies out of Terminal 3? Or do they fly some out of Terminal 5? I didn't think so.

They still certainly should have put signage up.

I know many times I've had my parents fly from Cedar Rapids to Chicago on United or American and then I have unrelated flights set up on Swiss or SAS or something when we go to Europe.

No, it was a mistake. An AA flyer could be connecting to a code-shared British Airways flight that departs T5.

Actually, they have to take on shuttle bus from T3 to T5. You can stay inside the sterile area. They don't have to leaves from security.