Quote:
Originally Posted by Kngkyle
The biggest emphasis of the United presentation was reducing the use of smaller regional jets, replacing them with the larger 737 and A321s. ORD is the hub most significantly impacted by this since they fly more RJs out of ORD than any other (in total and in %). On top of this upgauging (they want to increase the average # of seats per departure by 30%) they also stated they want to increase the number of flights out of their mid-continent hubs (DEN,IAH,ORD) by ~100 each by 2026.
That is going to be an almost 50% increase in capacity at ORD by 2026, from around 40M to 60M. Those satellite terminals are definitely going to be needed, especially if AA responds with growth of their own. I don't know how they can even manage that growth with the current terminal space and the seemingly delayed satellites.
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Once the Terminal 5 expansion completes and Delta moves its operations there, then the old Terminal 2 can be demolished and the Global Terminal and Satellite Concourses can begin construction. The Terminal 5 expansion was supposed to be complete this year but I'm guessing that based on the progress in the pictures posted above, it could complete late 2021 - early 2022. The satellite concourses were originally planned to begin construction in 2022 so even if worst case scenario and the Terminal 5 expansion doesn't complete until early 2022, then the satellite concourses could hopefully still be on schedule.
I am curious on how they will reconfigure flights once the Global Terminal/Sattelite concourses open. My guess is that T1 will be United domestic, T3 will be American domestic, and the Global Terminal/Sattelite concourses will be American/United international and Oneworld/Star Alliance partner flights. Delta, Skyteam Alliance partners, and nonaffiliated airlines will be in T5.