O'Hare International Airport

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O'Hare International Airport
IATA: ORD - ICAO: KORD
Summary
Airport type public
Operator Chicago City Department of Aviation
Serves Chicago, Illinois
Elevation AMSL 668 ft (203.6 m)
Coordinates 41° 58' 46" N

87° 54' 16" W
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
14R/32L 13,001 3,963 Paved
14L/32R 10,301 3,140 Paved
09R/27L 10,144 3,092 Paved
04R/22L 8.071 2,460 Paved
09L/27R 7,969 2,429 Paved
04L/22R 7,500 2,286 Paved

O'Hare International Airport (IATA: ORD, ICAO: KORD) is an airport located in Chicago, Illinois, 17 miles (27 km) northwest of the Chicago Loop. It is the largest hub of United Airlines (whose headquarters are located in nearby Elk Grove Township, Illinois) and the second-largest hub of American Airlines, after Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. It is operated by the City of Chicago Department of Aviation, associated with an umbrella regional authority.

O'Hare rivals Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as the world's busiest airport: Currently, O'Hare leads Hartsfield in annual aircraft movements, and Hartsfield leads O'Hare in annual passenger throughput. Both airports serve primarily as hubs for cross-country connections, although O'Hare also has a strong international airline presence with flights to more than 60 foreign destinations. O’Hare International Airport was voted the Best Airport in North America for the year 2003 by readers of the U.S. Edition of Business Traveler Magazine, marking six years in a row O'Hare has earned that honor.

O'Hare's high volume and crowded schedule can lead to cancellations and long delays that affect air travel across the United States. Official reports rank O'Hare as the least punctual airport in the United States based on percentage of delayed flights. City management has committed to a $6 billion capital investment plan to revamp the airport's runway layout and add a new western terminal complex, increasing the airport's capacity and decreasing delays by an estimated 79 percent[1]. In the meantime, the hub airlines have also recently agreed to modify their schedules to help reduce congestion caused by clustered arrivals and departures. Because of the air traffic departing, arriving, and near the airport, the air traffic controllers at O'Hare and its nearby facilities are some of the hardest working in the world in terms of number of controlled flights per hour.

Contents

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History

The airport was constructed in 1942-43 as a manufacturing plant for Douglas C-54s during World War II. The site was chosen for its proximity to the city and transportation. The two million square-foot (180,000 m²) factory needed easy access to the workforce of the nation's then-second-largest city, as well as its extensive railroad infrastructure. Orchard Place was a small pre-existing community in the area, and the airport was known during the war as Orchard Place Airport/Douglas Field. The facility was also the site of the Army Air Force's 803 Special Depot, which stored many rare or experimental planes, including captured enemy aircraft. These historic aircraft would later be transferred to the National Air Museum, going on to form the core of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum's collection.

Douglas Aircraft Company's contract ended in 1945, and though plans were proposed to build commercial aircraft, the company ultimately chose to concentrate production on the west coast. With the departure of Douglas, the airport took the name Orchard Place Airport. In 1945, the facility was chosen by the City of Chicago as the site for a facility to meet future aviation demands. Though its familiar three-letter IATA code ORD still reflects the early identity of the airport, it was renamed in 1949 after Lt. Cmdr. Edward "Butch" O'Hare, a World War II flying ace who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

By the early 1950s, Midway Airport, which had been the primary Chicago airport since 1931, had become too small and crowded despite multiple expansions and was unable to handle the planned first generation of jets. The City of Chicago and FAA began to develop O'Hare as the main airport for Chicago's future. The first commercial passenger flights were started there in 1955, and an international terminal was built in 1958, but the majority of domestic traffic did not move from Midway until completion of a 1962 expansion of O'Hare. The arrival of Midway's former traffic instantly made O'Hare the new World's Busiest Airport, serving 10 million passengers annually. Within two years that number would double, with more people passing through O'Hare in 12 months than Ellis Island had processed in its entire existence. In 1997, annual passenger volume was 70 million.

On May 25, 1979, American Airlines Flight 191 crashed upon takeoff en route to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California from Chicago, killing everyone on board and two people on the ground. The crash remains the deadliest single-aircraft crash in United States history.

On October 31, 1994, American Eagle Flight 4184, which was flying to O'Hare from Indianapolis International Airport in Indianapolis, Indiana, crashed into a soybean field, killing everyone on board.

On May 8, 2002, alleged Al-Qaida member Jose Padilla was arrested after his plane landed at the airport for allegedly being a scout for a plot to plant a dirty bomb.

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Modernization Program

A $6 billion O'Hare Modernization Program was approved by the FAA in October 2005 and will involve a reconfiguration of the airfield and addition of terminal space. Four runways will be added and three decommissioned in order to give the airfield an eight-runway parallel configuration similar to, but larger than, those in Dallas and Atlanta. Terminals 3 and 5 will undergo expansion, and a new west terminal is planned; however, some land acquisition is necessary, requiring approximately 2,800 residents to be relocated. The program will expand the airport's capacity to over 3,800 operations per day, up from the present capacity of 2,700 and will vastly increase passenger throughput capacity.

There is some resistance to this program brought forth by the neighboring communities of Bensenville and Elk Grove Village, which stand to lose hundreds of homes and businesses as a result of the expansion. Together, they have formed the Suburban O'Hare Commission (http://www.suburban-ohare.org) to fight the expansion. So far, they have been successful, and received an emergency injunction against the FAA's decision to green-light expansion. The Suburban O'Hare Commission has also been instrumental in pushing for a third regional airport in south suburban Peotone, which they claim would alleviate the problems at O'Hare without the destruction of portions of their communities.

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Facilities

O'Hare International has four passenger terminals. Two or more additional terminal buildings are envisioned. There is the possibility of a large terminal complex for the west side of the field, with access from I-90 and/or the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway, if the runway reconfiguration is completed.

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Terminal 1 (Concourses B and C)

O'Hare Airport - Terminal 1
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O'Hare Airport - Terminal 1
O'Hare Airport - Connecting tunnel between Concourses B & C of Terminal 1
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O'Hare Airport - Connecting tunnel between Concourses B & C of Terminal 1
  • Lufthansa (Departures) (Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich)
  • United Airlines (International Departures, all domestic) (Albany, Albuquerque, Amsterdam, Anchorage, Aruba, Atlanta, Baltimore/Washington, Bangkok (via NRT), Beijing, Bermuda, Boise, Boston, Buenos Aires, Buffalo, Burlington, Cabo San Lucas, Calgary, Charlotte, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, Cleveland, Columbus, Cozumel, Dallas/Fort Worth, Dayton, Denver, Des Moines, Detroit, Edmonton, Fort Myers, Frankfurt, Grand Cayman, Grand Rapids, Greensboro, Harrisburg, Hartford, Hong Kong, Honolulu, Houston/Intercontinental, Indianapolis, Kahului, Kansas City, Kona, Liberia, London/Heathrow, Los Angeles, Manchester (NH), Mexico City, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Montego Bay, Munich, Nagoya (via SFO), Newark, New Orleans, New York/LaGuardia, Oakland, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Orange County, Orlando, Osaka/Kansai, Paris/CDG, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland (OR), Providence, Richmond, Rochester, Sacramento, St. Louis, St. Thomas, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose (CA), San Juan, Sao Paulo, Seattle/Tacoma, Seoul/Incheon (via NRT) Shanghai, Singapore (via HKG), Spokane, Sydney (via SFO), Taipei (via SFO and NGO), Tokyo/Narita, Toronto, Tucson, Vancouver, Washington/Dulles, Washington/Reagan, West Palm Beach, Winnipeg)
    • Chautauqua Airlines dba United Express (Albuquerque, Buffalo, Dallas/Fort Worth, Des Moines, Grand Rapids, Hartford, Houston/Intercontinental, Indianapolis, Louisville, New Orleans, Norfolk, Rochester (NY), South Bend, Syracuse)
    • Mesa Air dba United Express (Atlanta, Appleton, Austin, Boise, Calgary, Cedar Rapids, Charlotte, Cleveland, Colorado Springs, Columbia, Columbus, Des Moines, Greenville (SC), Kansas City, Memphis, Nashville, Raleigh/Durham, Rochester (NY), Savannah, Syracuse, Traverse City, Tulsa, Wichita, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
    • ShuttleAmerica dba United Express (Albany, Buffalo, Columbus, Dallas, Fort Myers, Grand Rapids, Hartford, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Madison, Minneapolis, Montreal, Myrtle Beach, Norfolk, Ottawa, White Plains)
    • SkyWest dba United Express (Akron, Allentown/Bethlehem, Austin, Birmingham (AL), Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Charleston (WV), Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, Cleveland, Colorado Springs, Columbus, Dayton, Des Moines, Fayetteville (AR), Fort Wayne, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Kalamazoo, Knoxville, Lansing, Lexington, Lincoln, Louisville, Memphis, Moline, Nashville, Peoria, Providence, Roanoke, Saginaw, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Savannah, Sioux Falls, South Bend, Springfield (MO), St. Louis, Syracuse, Traverse City, Tulsa, Wichita, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
    • Ted (Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Miami (starts Oct. 31), Orlando, Phoenix, San Juan (starts Oct. 23), Tampa)
    • Trans States Airlines dba United Express (Albany, Bloomington, Burlington, Harrisburg, Manchester (NH), Moline, Montreal, Portland (ME), Raleigh/Durham, Richmond, St. Louis, South Bend, Syracuse, White Plains)

The original 1955 passenger terminal for international flights, was replaced with the modern Terminal 1, designed by Helmut Jahn, in 1987.

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Terminal 2 (Concourses E and F)

Terminal 2 was built in a large airport expansion in 1962, along with the original portion of Terminal 3.

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Terminal 3 (Concourses G, H, K, and L)

The part of the airport that services American Eagle and American Airlines flights.
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The part of the airport that services American Eagle and American Airlines flights.
  • Alaska Airlines (Anchorage and Seattle/Tacoma)
  • American Airlines (International departures, all domestic) (Acapulco, Albuquerque, Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore/Washington, Boston, Brussels, Calgary, Cancun, Columbus, Dallas/Fort Worth, Delhi (starts Nov. 15, 2005), Denver, Detroit, Dublin, El Paso, Fayetteville (AR), Flagstaff, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Hartford, Honolulu, Houston/Intercontinental, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Las Vegas, London/Heathrow, Los Angeles, Los Cabos, Manchester (UK), Maui, Mexico City, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Montreal, Nagoya, Nashville, New Orleans, Newark, New York/LaGuardia, Orange County, Orlando, Palm Springs, Paris/CDG, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland (OR), Providence, Puerto Vallarta, Raleigh/Durham, Reno/Tahoe, Rome/Fiumicino, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Juan, San Jose (CA), Seattle/Tacoma, Shanghai (starts Apr. 2, 2006), Tampa, Tokyo/Narita, Toronto, Tucson, Vail, Vancouver, Washington/Reagan, West Palm Beach, White Plains)
  • American Eagle (Albany, Atlanta, Bloomington, Buffalo, Cedar Rapids, Champaign/Urbana, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, Cleveland, Colorado Springs, Columbus, Dayton, Des Moines, Dubuque, Evansville, Fayetteville (AR), Fort Wayne, Grand Rapids, Green Bay, Greenville (SC), Harrisburg, Huntsville, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kalamazoo, Knoxville, La Crosse, Little Rock, Louisville, Madison, Marquette, Memphis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Moline, Nashville, Nassau, Norfolk, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Ottawa, Pensacola, Peoria, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Rochester (MN), Rochester (NY), Sioux Falls, Savannah, Springfield (MO), Syracuse, Toledo, Traverse City, Tulsa, Washington/Dulles, White Plains, Wichita)
  • Delta Air Lines (Atlanta, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, New York/JFK, Salt Lake City)
  • Iberia (Departures) (Madrid)
  • Spirit Airlines (Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orlando, Tampa)

Terminal 3 was also built in the 1962 capital program. It was significantly expanded in 1983, with the construction of Concourse L. It is currently undergoing rennovation, scheduled to run from January 2004 to Late Fall 2007.

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Terminal 4

Terminal 4 was O'Hare's interim international terminal from 1984 until 1995, located underneath the main parking garage. International passengers would check in at Terminal 4 and be taken directly to their aircraft by bus. Since the opening of Terminal 5, Terminal 4 has been changed into the airport's facility for CTA buses, hotel shuttles, and other ground transportation. The T4 designation will be used again in the future as new terminals are developed.

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Terminal 5 - International Terminal (Concourse M)

In the future, there is a possibility that Cathay Pacific will fly from Hong Kong International Airport to Chicago, via Vancouver.

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Airfield

FAA diagram of O'Hare
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FAA diagram of O'Hare

There are 6 primary air carrier runways, arranged tangentially in 3 pairs of parallel sets. The largest is Runway 14R-32L, 13,000' x 200'. Runways 14L and 14R have Category III ILS (Instrument Landing System). All other runways except 4L have full ILS.

Three runways of the original 1943 airfield's four have been upgraded to modern standards. Additional runways were constructed in 1955, 1968, and 1971. In 2003, old Runway 18-36 was permanently closed -- its short length and problematic placement no longer justified its continued certification. Runway 18-36 is now shown as taxiway GG on current airport charts.

The proposed redevelopment would entail removal of the 2 northwest-southeast runways, construction of 4 additional east-west runways, and extension of the 2 existing east-west runways. The two existing northeast-southwest runways would be retained.

Runway 32L is sometimes used for departures in a shortened configuration. Planes access the runway from its intersection at taxiway T10 (common) or taxiway M (not common). This shortens the effective length of the runway but allows operations on runway 9R-27L to continue.

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Transit

  • Road vehicles enter and exit via I-190, which branches off I-90 (the Kennedy Expressway) leading to downtown Chicago. Cars may also access the airport locally from Manheim Rd. this is for long-term parking and Signature Flight support.
  • Trains from the Blue Line of the CTA's "L" depart the terminal from an underground station that opened on September 2, 1984.
  • The ATS (Airport transit system) which was constructed in 1993 serves Terminals 1, 2, 3, & 5 with long-term parking. the ATS runs 24 hours a day, with trains every 4-6 minutes.
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Other facilities

A large air cargo complex on the southwest side of the field was opened in 1984, replacing most of the old cargo area, which stood where Terminal 5 now exists.

The original Douglas plant on the northeast side evolved into an Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve facility, but this was closed in 1998 and is now being redeveloped for cargo and general aviation. Signature Flight Support services private aircraft in this area.

The hangar area has multiple buildings capable of fully enclosing aircraft up to the size of the Boeing 747.

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Cargo Carriers

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External links


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