I should not do long term speculation. For the foreseeable future we will see 2 trunk airlines with major hubs at ORD. I am sure they don't like having more competition, and adding the extra gates will do that. But for the airport to remain competitive this had to happen. Now ORD can go after ATL for passenger deplaning's and landings. ORD also needs to get those cargo stats back up to where they belong.

Interesting article though it is actually from Chicago Tribune wires. Best coverage should be local, but will be interesting to see national business press and aviation trade commentary on the plans and how they unfold

Someone from Airliners.net compiled this run-down of Summer 2018 international service by carrier, destination, and aircraft type for ORD. I always find this interesting so thought I'd relay it here.

Which airlines is flying direct to Venice? Is it Venice, Italy?

American Airlines and yes, Venice, Italy.

Like that international chart Kngkyle.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised because time flies but the 787 is much more prevalent in international routes then I would have expected. I'm rather wowed that the 787 is being used on all AA's trans-continental routes

That listing makes American's network look more impressive than it actually is. Of all their flights to Europe, only 1 is actually year around - London. All of the rest - Amsterdam, Paris, Dublin, Venice, Rome, Manchester, Barcelona - are all seasonal summer service. AA has really given up on ORD-Europe for business travelers and now caters primarily to seasonal tourism traffic. UA on the other hand flies bigger planes (albeit older) to many more year-round destinations. And their joint venture partner, Lufthansa, is considerably bigger at ORD than AA's joint venture partner, British Airways.

UA and Star Alliance have really pulled away from AA when it comes to international service at ORD. It's little wonder why the city sided with UA over AA in the gate dispute. (among other reasons)

I believe that Philadelphia is currently AA's largest European gateway with 9 year around destinations and 9 seasonal European destinations.

Yes, it's a no brainer. UA has kept up and expanded international routes while AA cut routes totally or went seasonal. When looking at which airline is more important to the city at ORD it's no contest. As a lifelong AA flyer I've found myself defecting to UA more and more as my tolerance for connecting has declined.

Crains has a few more details today about the expansion project.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...whats-in-store

The satellite concourses will be connected by underground tunnel (likely with moving walkways) and this will include a space for two future train tracks. The tunnel will not extend to the west side of the airport, nor will the city even contemplate purchasing a train system for the tunnels until passenger numbers top 100 million for 3 consecutive years.

The article also made no mention of other landside improvements to ease the tremendous congestion on I-190 and the arrival/departure roadways. In fact this expansion will only further concentrate traffic on the T2 section of the ring. The only good news for landside is the soon-to-open CONRAC, which will at least remove most rental shuttles from the arrivals level (the lost opportunity to connect to Metra at the CONRAC is insane to me also)

American and United are now lobbying their employees to oppose/support the O'Hare expansion plan.

American: http://keepordcompetitive.com/
United: https://hub.united.com/united-facts-...544036126.html

United is talking big about their history, local workforce, and community:

From United, Chicago is 2nd to none... No new aircraft placed at ORD (77Ws and 787s), seat reduction on key int'l markets (744s to 77ERs) barely any new international service started. Seems like Chicago is 3rd to San Francisco and Newark...

Do you have a source of this? Where did you hear this? Who told you?

I think they're just referring to the whole situation in Georgia and the republicans in the state overturning tax legislation for the airline because Delta took away the NRA discount which only 13 people has apparently actually used.

Delta hasn't actually stated they want new digs anywhere.

Delta won’t move.

This is a confusing sentence because it's not clear whether you're being sarcastic or whether you don't know what the phrase "second to none" means. "Second to none" meaning, of course, that the subject is the clear leader or winner, with no competitor even in partial consideration for first place.

Also, my understanding is that United is simply not using 747s at all anymore, in any market. Despite the fact that, in theory, the longest 747 can carry over 800 passengers in some configurations, in practice the 777 class is often configured with more seating than many 747s anyway, as well as more cargo room. But more importantly the operating costs of the 2-engine 777 class is significantly less than the four-engine 747 class something on the order of 1/3 of a cent per seat, per mile cheaper, which amounts to savings of about $6,000 for trans-Pacific flights carrying 450 passengers. I don't know how many trans-Pacific flights United offers daily, system-wide, but say they have 20 flights a day with 450 passengers counting all flights in either direction, with $6,000 per trip savings, over a year that amounts to savings of nearly $44 million. United listed their 747-400 plane with 374 seats while their 77W lists a capacity of 366 seats, a net loss of only 8 seats. Granted, the 77W doesn't have any true First Class seats, but one has to wonder how many First Class seats United was actually selling, versus using for upgrades. First Class seats, despite their huge trans-oceanic list price, can operate at a loss if they're mostly used as upgrades and not actually being sold at face value.

Tribune is reporting that Emanuel and American Airlines have reached a deal for the OHare expansion. The city will speed up the construction of 3 gates that American will use.

Good news

Great news! Sounds like the whole thing was really a minor thing. Speed up the construction of something already agreed to?

^ yeah, it sounds like the whole opposition ploy was just posturing by AA to make sure they got theirs.

i'm glad all parties were able to get it worked out fairly quickly.