Chicago’s O’Hare, long plagued by delays caused by not enough gates, is getting a plan to allow more flights and more airlines with less delay—but it’s not clear how soon it can happen and if all of it will.
Announced by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, the plan would add 9 more gates to the International Terminal and turn the present Terminal 2 into a central terminal that might add up to two dozen more gates. The field has already had significant runway expansion, but the shortage of gates leads to long waits for incoming flights, which then cause departure delays.
The mayor says the work on the international terminal will be done by 2019, but negotiations with airlines over the other work are just beginning and expected to take a year or more. United and American, which dominate O’Hare, may want more gates, but possibly not enough to accommodate more flights and gates for competitors.
More details from USA Today HERE
Photo: Robert Werner / Wikimedia
