With 867,635 arrivals and departures, O’Hare International Airport was the second busiest U.S. airport in 2016. The airport once again finished behind Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which had 898,356 total operations last year.
Overall, air traffic at O’Hare was down about 0.9 percent from 2015, while operations at Atlanta’s Hartsfield Airport were up 1.8 percent, according to NBC 5 Chicago. Los Angeles International Airport, Dallas-Fort Worth and Denver rounded out the top five busiest U.S. airports. Midway’s 253,046 arrivals and departures were the 25th highest in the country.
The news comes as city officials and airlines that operate out of O’Hare are negotiating just how many new gates will be added to the nation's second-busiest airport. The city is proposing a 25 percent increase in gate area, according to Crain’s Chicago Business. A plan currently being negotiated calls for the redevelopment of Terminal 2, with the addition of a slew of new gates to O’Hare’s centrally located terminal. The airport is already planning to add several new gates at Terminal 5.
The city hopes that the proposed upgrades will alleviate delay problems at O’Hare, as well as meet increased demand. The Crain’s report added that while the airport’s terminals continue to age, it has also seen slower than average growth, compared with other top U.S. airports.
If realized, the plan to revamp O’Hare’s terminals could be an economic boon for the city, as well as help push Chicago's busiest airport ahead of Atlanta on the list of busiest U.S. airports. As long as it doesn't mean longer security lines, we're all for it.
Want more? Sign up here to stay in the know.