Q1 2018 numbers are coming in strong, especially international, which is at 11 consecutive months of record breaking passenger counts.

Passengers:
Domestic 14,920,409 +2.63%
International 2,927,735 +12.34%
Combined 17,848,144 +4.10%

Operations:
Domestic 184,371 +4.16%
International 20,447 +2.07%
Combined 204,818 +3.95%

Q1 is always the slowest quarter for air travel.

Sure but that doesn’t mean Halliburton, etc aren’t active there. I have a friend in London in the oil business and he frequently has work travel in both Houston and Lagos.

You’d still need a sign to T5, even if taking the bus to T5. You can get from T3 to T2 to T1 without leaving the secured space. Sings aren’t just for those leaving the secured area. Every other concourse has the signage to T5. It’s a mistake along with no permanent food options. Once the added 3 gates come it’ll be just as tight as legacy gates at T2 and T3 today. I really hope the design for the new Global/Int’l terminal will be much more spacious and forward thinking. Come on Chicago you are better than this.

Signage mistake aside it's not bad for what it is given the very limited space they had to work with. Also the biggest plane that will gate here is the E175 so less than half the passenger load per gate compared to a 737 so I think there is sufficient (if not ideal) space. Commuter gates usually get the short end anyway and this is a LOT nicer than what many major US airports have, the Eagles Nest at LAX for example being truly shameful.

I'm sure the design for T2 will be much more in line with international expectations.

Will all regional buses (Van Galder, Peoria Charter, etc) be moved to the new CONRAC? If so, what will happen to the existing Bus/Shuttle Center?

According to PACE's Dempster Line Open House, as configured the new CONRAC will have eight bus gates. Discounting the two PACE gates and the two "future" gates, four regional bus gates are available. If each gate can service thee or four buses/hour each (regional buses need time to board customers, stow luggage, and a small schedule buffer), 12 to 16 departures per hour are possible.

Coach USA-branded buses are scheduled up to twice an hour to Rockford and/or Madison, once an hour to Milwaukee, and once an hour to Indiana, for four "as printed" scheduled departures per hour. Peoria Charter and Suburban express each operate up to a bus per hour to Champaign. The former, along with a scattering of other companies, also operate a handful trips elsewhere. Counting only printed schedules, six buses leave every hour in the status quo.

But wait! During peak travel periods bus companies send out additional unscheduled trips in order to have enough capacity to meet consumer demand. I've personally seen Van Galder run two additional buses on a scheduled trip from Madison. If every company needed to run that many additional buses during the same hour, 18 departures per hour would be necessary. Note that I estimate bus gate capacity as up to 4 departures per hour, or 16 departures total. As planned, the regional bus facility appears to be undersized for peak periods today.

Arriving buses aren't considered. While they could drop off at the terminals, this creates room for confusion as customers would board their buses after their trips at a completely different location from where they alighted. If buses dropped off at the regional bus facility as well, bus gate departure capacity would be lower.

Am I missing anything? I haven't been able to find any EIS or studies that cover regional buses at O'Hare.

Why would they send regional buses to the CONRAC? Shouldn't we reward bus riders with a convenient central dropoff location, since they chose not to drive to the airport and park?

I always assumed the CONRAC's bus area was just for rental car and hotel shuttles, plus a replacement facility for the Pace plaza in Lot E, since that station will be abandoned.

If anything, the CONRAC should increase capacity for regional buses at the existing Bus Center in the main parking garage.

IIRC, the city has/had designs on expanding the existing hotel into the bus center roadway once the CONRAC and ATS extension is operational.

OHare's international bet seems to be paying off

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...od-and-getting

Very nice news article. Thanks for sharing this! :tup:

Hopefully ORD will growth more. They will start construction the T5 9 new gate expansion. It will be done in a few years. Later in a few years JetBlue, Frontier, Spirit, Delta will moved over to entire T5. Some flights will relocated to entire T3 or T1.

Chicago will do fine, and it will be in large part due to new longer range aircraft along with the city improvements and plans. Most traffic coming to the Midwest from the south Pacific regions will now start going nonstop to ORD instead of stopping at LAX and SFO. Same goes for African traffic. They might even be able to steal some east of Chicago European traffic with competitive pricing:)

Same AA Int’l Story
 

I know AA’s mega hub is DFW but I’m just surprised AA can’t keep Beijing going from ORD. Dallas is not geographically better than ORD to Asia. I sure hope they don’t pull the plug on Shanghai from ORD too.

United makes sense on the route with Star Alliance on both ends. Hainan doesn’t have feed at ORD and they don’t have a large presence in Beijing compared to Air China. Unfortunately this is the same story for AA internationally out of ORD for the last 15 years. They only seem to sustain on routes that connect to One World hubs. (LHR, NRT and I guess Barcelona has Iberia?)

AA's DFW hub is about TWICE as big as AA's ORD hub. There are simply more connection opportunities. Also, there is no competition with DFW-PEK - unlike ORD. ORD is uniquely located to be both a great hub domestically and to Europe and Asia. It's no coincidence.

Thats uplifting news. Hopefully O'Hare's growth continues. It has a lot of catching up to do to reach the status it used to hold as the nation's premiere airport. Hell, LAX is nipping at our heals now.

For pax traffic LAX has already passed ORD. That will change back over the next few years. For aircraft movements ATL is number 1 followed closely by ORD for the world not just the USA. ORD moves a lot of cargo and has a lot of regional flights.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...502-story.html


Mega-jet A380 to begin daily stops at O'Hare

A British Airways A380, which departed London Heathrow, lands at O'Hare International Airport on Friday. It was the plane's first regularly scheduled flight to Chicago.

Chicagoans near O’Hare International Airport who spotted an extra-large plane touching down there Friday night will start seeing a lot more of the Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger aircraft.
It won’t be the A380’s first trip to O’Hare, but Friday’s British Airways flight from London marks the double-decker plane’s first regularly scheduled flight to Chicago.
...
Last year, British Airways said it would begin using the A380 on one of two daily flights between Chicago and London. The aircraft seats up to 469 passengers in four cabins, including 14 first-class suites, 97 lie-flat business-class seats and 55 premium economy seats, with the remaining 303 in coach, British Airways said.
It’s only within the past couple of years that O’Hare has had facilities to accommodate the A380, which is 238 feet long and 79 feet high, with a 261-foot wingspan. O’Hare has had a runway big enough for the A380 since 2013 but lacked gates that fit two-level planes at the time.

^ Saw that earlier.

A new era for OHare begins...

I'm far less interested in A380 service than I am 787/A350 that will make discontinued and previously impossible to service routes potentially viable plus push down ticket prices.

On an unrelated note would it kill the CDA to issue a contract to convert the arrival canopy lighting to LED so somewhere between 50 and 90 percent of the fixtures aren't perpetually dark?

Hi all,

Finally, new concourse L gates expansion is opening today.

https://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/...-at-ohare.html

This is only for regional gates.

Avianca launching service on two routes from O'Hare
 

By Lewis Lazare – Reporter, Chicago Business Journal
Avianca, the flagship carrier of Colombia, is coming to Chicago, where there is a large — and growing — Hispanic community to cultivate.

Officials with the airline said on Thursday that Avianca will launch nonstop routes this fall from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport to Bogota, Columbia, and Guatemala City, Guatemala.

Frontier moved from Terminal 3 to 5 this morning. Anyone have an idea who will take over those gates? I assume its AA, but not clear from the announcement. Link to CDA announcement on the move is below:

http://www.flychicago.com/business/m...px?newsid=1464