Visible T5 progress from above- https://twitter.com/fhpaschen/status...31630748061700

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E_-Sg-cWEAAVWv6?format=jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E_-Sg_oVUAcONIZ?format=jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E_-ShAOUYAENl57?format=jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E_-Sg_vXsAUZAFJ?format=jpg

New article on T5:

https://urbanize.city/chicago/post/o...ruction-photos

ORD Modernization project complete
 

O’Hare Airport modernization project complete after 16 years

by: Rob Sneed

Posted: Sep 9, 2021

WGN

https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/...fter-16-years/


Leave it to Chicago leaders to not make a big deal out of this... but earlier this month O'Hare became the first (and likely only, for a while) airport in the world to have 6(!) parallel runways and 8 total runways.

We will see regular triple parallel approaches and double parallel takeoffs, with the possibility of quad approaches or even triple takeoffs if needed. I hope the FAA considers arrivals to all happen on one side of the airport (either north or south, or rotate for noise) - those runways are much further apart than San Francisco, for example.

We owe it to Mayor Daley for getting this started and it kept going through Emanuel and has now finished with Lightfoot. This is an amazing piece of infrastructure that just needs good terminals and gate capacity to match. :fingerscrossed:

For every 10 news articles talking about ORD being last in customer satisfaction, there is probably just one talking about the runway project. I for one remember 20 years ago when just a little bit of weather caused massive delays due to the intersecting runways. Now we have a giant 6-lane aircraft highway. Awesome.

https://www.faa.gov/airports/airport...on-Diagram.jpg
Source: FAA

So, JD Power came out with their 2021 Rankings for Best Airports in the US and Canada:

Chicago's Airports didn't do that great. But some of these rankings are surprising. Like how are Miami and JFK the best mega airports?

Mega Airports:

1.) Miami (828)
2.) New York JFK (817)
3.) Minneapolis – St. Paul (815)
4.) Orlando (812)
5.) Phoenix (808)
6.) Las Vegas (806)
7.) Dallas – Fort Worth (805)
8.) Houston Intercontinental (801)
9.) Detroit (798)
10.) Charlotte and San Francisco (tie) (796)
12.) Denver and Fort Lauderdale (tie) (793)
14.) LAX and Newark (tie) (792)
15.) Seattle (789)
16.) Boston (784)
17.) Toronto (780)
18.) Chicago O'Hare (772)

Large Airports:

1.) New Orleans (844)
2.) Tampa (843)
3.) Raleigh-Durham (841)
4.) Dallas Love Field (829)
5.) Salt Lake City (826)
6.) Nashville (820)
7.) Austin (819)
8.) San Diego (814)
9.) San Antonio (813)
10.) Washington National (804)
11.) Portland (803)
12.) Sacramento and Washington Dulles (tie) (802)
14.) St. Louis (801)
15.) Chicago Midway and Kansas City (tie) (800)
17.) Houston Hobby (794)
18.) Baltimore (785)
19.) New York LaGuardia (781)
20.) Philadelphia (758)

https://www.jdpower.com/business/pre...sfaction-study

O'Hare has issues.... but these rankings make no sense to me.

Also, how in the flying F is Midway tied with the KC airport?.......

I think I experienced what will happen. I flew out of ORD Sat. 18. We left the gate, seemingly taxied for a minute and took off. I was sitting in my seat thinking "what just happened?" I have never taken off so quickly from O'Hare. It was unnerving, LOL. I mean, it made a difference (improvement) in my flight time. When I arrived back this past Saturday I looked out the window and thought "I have never been this far south"

Landed and had a slightly shorter than usual taxi to the gate.

If this is going to be a regular situation it is going to be a BIG deal. I have a Friday morning trip in a week and a half so it will be interesting to see if it happens again.

I love it.

I do not agree with Miami being #1. I can see how the layout kind of makes sense, in theory, but SLC, Denver and Seattle have better airport IMO.

Do tell us about the Friday trip. I think takeoff line up wait times in general have been cut in half.

Yeah... that's some shit. I haven't flown to all of those mega airports, but of the fifteen or so that I have, I'd rate Miami and JFK dead last out of all of them, and I wouldn't even have to think about it.

EL AL is scheduled to resume ORD-TLV flights on March 27, 2022. Schedule per EL AL's website is as follows;

LY 23 Dep TLV 12:00pm Arr ORD 4:30pm Sun, Tue, Thur. 787-8
LY 24 Dep ORD 7:15pm Arr TLV 2:35pm+1 Sun, Tue Thur. 787-8

Ft Lauderdale is considered a Mega airport while Philadelphia and Dulles are just Large? :shrug:

Not sure where they drew the line (35M+?) to differentiate between Mega and Large, but FLL passenger traffic in 2019 (normal year) was indeed above PHL and IAD:

FLL: 36,747,622
PHL: 33,018,886
IAD: 24,817,677

ORD still on top with the most flight movements this month and have been since May 2021. We did come in second for movements last year overall for the world after ATL but have beat ATL for several years prior to 2020 on flight movements. Maybe the media should start ranking airports based on flight movements as that includes the all important cargo flights along with Passenger flights.

ORD number one with 13, 576

https://flightaware.com/

I don't know much about JD Power except when it came to car commercials, but I see now it's full of garbage if this is the list they come up with. It's literally pathetic.

Nothing new to report on my trip this morning because the fog at 6AM was thick and we were delayed taking off. I will say we taxied from our United gate going past Terminal 5, moving along and then, BANG, stopped. Were sitting for maybe five minutes when the captain came on saying we were delayed by weather. Then maybe 5 minutes more and we turned a corner and took off.

Next flight is mid-morning cross country to Palm Springs in November. I will definitely be paying attention.

United Airlines Announces New International Routes from ORD

United Airlines is launching a new service from ORD to MXP (Milan) on May 6, and has set an official launch date for the delayed ORD to ZRH (Zurich) flight for April 23. United also recently announced that the seasonal flight to Iceland from ORD that began this year would return again in 2022.

“The second route is from Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP). United will use a Boeing 787-8 on this route with daily service starting on May 6th. This will complement United’s flights to Milan from Newark. The carrier will have a monopoly on this route.”

https://simpleflying.com/united-summer-2021-expansion/

No, it’s not! FLL is not a mega airport. JetBlue, Spirit, Southwest Airlines is a focus city, but not a hub. Isn’t large enough to become a hub.

Not sure if these have been posted here:

http://www.ardmoreroderick.com/wp-co...ws-Article.pdf

^ Terminal 5 Expansion

https://ord21.com/SiteCollectionDocu...NT%20GUIDE.pdf

^ This has details on all of the renovation projects on the existing terminals and surrounding area.

Tollway connector ring around O'hare...

https://www.journal-topics.com/artic...-improvements/

ORD21 Timeline
 

I know T5 is in the middle of it's transformation and that Delta will be moving there. But why hasn't work started to prepare or begin construction of the 2nd satellite? I know the first satellite might get in the way of T2 now. Also, what is the timing for Delta to move to T5? I read a while ago, that it was in 2022. But wouldn't that take gate space away if they move before T5 construction is complete? With Delta and Southwest in T5, int'l processing will be limited to any growth until the entire ORD21 project is complete.

Delta will move when the expansion is complete and ready for service, which will be next year. I think permits issued for their new club buildout in T5 recently.

Wow it's a miracle!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/o-...ule/ar-AAQ6QMa

O’Hare ‘people mover’ to reopen, nearly 3 years behind schedule

Huzzah!!! ;)

Seriously though, I'm glad to hear that the ATS is finally about to reopen. I've had friends come in and out of T5 (they flew Southwest), and it's quite a pain in the ass to get from T5 to Blue Line without it. Let's just say Uber/Lyft were preferred alternatives for getting them back to the airport for their flights.

The signage at O'Hare is not set up for those shuttle buses. The signage for the bus stops isn't good at all, so even for me it was confusing. Glad it;s coming to an end and the train is about to be back online.

Aaron (Glowrock)

Oh thank god. Please let it open for Thanksgiving travel out of selfish reasons.

i'm glad it's finally reopening, but man, what an utterly embarrassing debacle of a project.

More ORD cargo overflow heading to RFD. Korean Air, five flights a week.
https://www.wifr.com/2021/11/01/rfd-...ne-korean-air/

^ I think this is a good thing. Open up runway space for more passenger flights. Cargo can be trucked from Rockford just like it can be trucked from ORD. And as long as this business activity stays in the state and greater Chicagoland region overall, its all good.

I think those are additional flights added to the Chicago area, not instead of ORD. Great news as Chicago/Rockford are becoming even bigger cargo hubs for North America.

Brand new flights? Even better!

A little history.

A certain DHL hub in Ohio was built as the new Flying Tigers(pre Fed Ex merger) hub back in the 1980's when FT left ORD. They did it due to costs at ORD and a better deal from Ohio. Now Rockford is clawing back and taking cargo business from other parts of the country along with O'hare and regaining it's share. Can you imagine how big ORD and RFD would be if that Ohio hub had never been built!!!

Lesson for Chicago, you have to be competitive with other markets or you will loose the business atleast for awhile.

Yes, sorry, I should have clarified. Not taking anything away from ORD, but in addition to ORD's cargo flights. These 5 are in addition to the weekly flights to/from Shanghai and Frankfort, all new to the region in the last few months.

British Airways A380 coming back to Chicago in the spring??
 

Just happened to notice something very interesting.

British Airways recently updated the destination list for their A380s. Washington was removed from the list, being replaced with Singapore.

More importantly though, Chicago still remains on the list, however, there aren't currently any A380 flights to Chicago scheduled on BA according to Google Flights. So is British Airways planning on bringing the A380 back to Chicago this spring, but just hasn't scheduled the flights yet?

Here's the link to the British Airways A380 destination list: https://www.britishairways.com/en-us...on/airbus-a380

Uh. . . stupid question. . . but why does it look like O'hare has abandoned Parking lot E (this is the long term parking where the ATS used to terminate prior to the MMF)? I've heard speculation that new runway 9C has something to do with it, but what gives? There's a LOT of space there and the ATS runs right through it now between T5 and the MMF. . . all other long term parking is still served via shuttle bus. . .

. . .

Airborne shot of O'hare taken in mid October:

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/10357260

Also parking info about E in post #731:

https://www.airliners.net/forum/view...f424&start=700

Isnt some low rise commercial including hotel planned for that space on Lot E?

I read that United is the ending a bunch of regional jet service on under performing routes from ORD to Wausau, Evansville, Kalamazoo, Lansing and Columbia, MO.

Those aren't terribly important routes, and they're all also covered by American from ORD, but I don't like seeing O'Hare lose feeder service as the great Midwest air travel funnel.

Wouldn't part of this also be because United is going to be transitioning away from the 50 seat regional jets to more 737 Maxes as the aircraft from their big order start to come in? Chicago is like their top hub for these regional aircraft, so this probably is because the destinations don't have enough demand and/or aren't equipped for a bigger aircraft.

This is the real reason. The 50 seaters are largely going away and if the market isn't large enough to support a larger plane it is getting cut. United has said they plan to grow significantly in the next 5-10 years and that is going to require them stop using so much valuable gate space on small birds.

So on one hand it sucks to lose a spoke like Kalamazoo but if that is freeing up space for new flights like the recently announced Milan, I'll take that trade any day. :tup:

On a side note, their new 50 seat CRJ-550 planes are great. They normally seat 70-78 passengers but United is only putting 50 seats in them, using the extra space for storage closets for rollaboards and a snack bar.

Plus, it's literally just over a 2-hour drive to Kalamazoo, with a LOT less hassle than flying there :shrug:

Commercial Airliner Cargo Ops.
 

It seems as cargo operations at ORD continue to grow. I’ve seen many commercial planes that have been used for cargo only over the last year at ORD. So now, how do those same operators fill the passenger cabin with cargo? Have they now removed the seats and converted them, have they put packages in the seats with netting to keep them secure, or is largely unused? I was then wondering if this could open up new commercial airline flights, re-start suspended service, upgauge aircraft, or even increase frequencies on existing routes. I’ve seen Virgin Atlantic here, multiple Air France ops, multiple Korean Air Ops (Rockford too), Cathay, Saudi, Air Canada widebodies, Delta widebodies, and Latam.

Last few times I've flown out of O'Hare (taking the blue line) the pedestrian tunnels from the station to the terminals have been littered with homeless people. Not exactly a great first impression...

You have notify the police right away. The homeless people had to leave from airport. They are not supposed to be there. They have to clean it up the mess. It's too messy!

Rode the ATS at thanksgiving. The new cars are nice and surprisingly speedy. Tons of CDA employees and contractors around keeping an eye on it. CONRAC is nice and muuuch superior to the old outdoor lots.

According to a September presentation given by the Chicago Department of Aviation to the O'Hare Noise Commission, T5 expansion will open in mid-2022 and Delta will move to T5 in September 2022.

http://oharenoise.org/resources/pres...r-10-2021/file

The extension of runway 9R/27L is complete, and it is now open for limited use. OMP is done! What a LONG time coming.

1st airport in the world with 6 parallel runways, the central 4 of which are all over 2 miles long!

Here's the new diagram:

https://i.postimg.cc/90DF55f6/FAA-ORD-12-2-21.png
Source: https://www.airliners.net/forum/view...987e&start=800

Wow, that's awesome! I'm kinda sad it's not making bigger waves in the local news though. This is the official completion of a HUGE multi billion dollar infrastructure project that benefits not only the entire Chicago metro area, but any flyer across the country/world that has to connect through O'Hare.

Still happy to see it finally complete though. It's fun to see these mini-completions occur at O'Hare as it continues to modernize and expand. Next up is getting the Terminal 5 expansion finished.

British Airways is bringing the A380 back to Chicago beginning June 1, 2022.

“ British Airways has loaded the A380 from Heathrow to Boston, Chicago, and Washington for summer 2022.”

BA295 from June 1st: Heathrow-Chicago, 10:25-13:10, once-daily

BA294 from June 1st: Chicago-Heathrow, 17:05-06:50+1, once-daily

https://simpleflying.com/british-air...0-summer-2022/

Heck yeah! Awesome news!

I wonder if Emirates will also consider bringing the A380 to ORD because once the T5 expansion completes, there will be two A380-capable gates so theoretically both British Airways and Emirates could operate daily A380s.

I hope so! A380s won't be around forever, and I want to fly on one just once to experience it!