MDW/ORD | Chicago Area Airports

[diablo234]

I found out that there is no thread for Chicago O' Hare so I decided to create one. Anyways Chicago O' Hare is a hub for American Airlines and United Airlines (which are based out of terminals three and one respectively) and also hosts the operations of some US airlines such as Delta, US Airways, Alaska Airlines,Jet Blue, Virgin America, and Spirit.





The final configuration once the O' Hare modernization program is complete.

[diablo234]

Virgin America to start new services to Chicago O' Hare in May.

VIRGIN AMERICA BREEZES INTO CHICAGO O’HARE
New Airline Blows Some Fresh Competition into the Windy City – With Upscale Flights and Low Fares from $99*
Chicago-based Groupon Helps Launch the Airline with a Featured Deal on Virgin America’s New ORD Flights
http://www.virginamerica.com/press-r...ago-ohare.html

San Francisco – February 17, 2011 – Virgin America, the California-based airline that is reinventing domestic travel, today announces it will bring its low-fare, upscale service to Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), with daily nonstop flights from both Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and San Francisco International Airport (SFO) starting May 25, 2011. Known for its beautifully designed cabins and high-tech amenities, Virgin America has been winning over consumers and sweeping the major travel awards since its August 2007 launch – including capturing the “Best Domestic Airline” title in both Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards and Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards for the past three consecutive years. With legacy airlines representing 98 percent of domestic departures at ORD, Virgin America hopes to inject some healthy competition into the market.

“Until today, travelers flying from O’Hare to SFO or LAX had little choice and few low fare options. With unrivalled service and new planes that look like nothing else in the skies, we hope our flights will be a breath of fresh air for Chicago travelers,” said Virgin America President and Chief Executive Officer David Cush. “When more airlines compete, consumers tend to win – with lower fares and better service. Mayor Daley and the airport have shown tremendous vision by investing in ORD’s future and by helping to open up access to new competition.”

Virgin America originally announced its intent to serve ORD in 2008, but its plans were delayed due to gate availability. Through the leadership provided by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and ORD Airport Commissioner Rosemarie S. Andolino, the airline reached an agreement to occupy gate space at ORD’s now vacated Concourse L.

[diablo234]

Video of the airport people mover at O' Hare which conects all the terminals with the parking lots.

[diablo234]

The famous light tunnel in the Terminal 1 (the United Terminal) connecting Concourses B and C. This terminal was also designed by Helmut Jahn and was completed in 1987.

[diablo234]

Cathay Pacific to start new direct flights to Hong Kong from ORD begining in September.

Cathay Pacific launches new services to Chicago and Abu Dhabi, boosts frequencies to New York and Toronto
http://www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en_...0007d21c39____

Cathay Pacific Airways today announced that it will expand its already-extensive international network by adding two new routes in 2011 - a four-times-weekly service to Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), commencing 2 June, and a daily flight to Chicago in the United States, which launches on 1 September.

The Chicago service, which will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER, will boost the airline’s presence in North America and provide passengers with increased connectivity between the Midwestern United States and Hong Kong and the rest of Asia. Given the demand for travel to other US cities via Chicago, Cathay Pacific intends to launch code-share services from its new gateway with oneworld alliance partner American Airlines and looks forward to announcing details in the near future.

The Abu Dhabi service will be operated by an Airbus A330-300 aircraft with departures to and from Hong Kong on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Cathay Pacific has been serving the United Arab Emirates market for more than 30 years and currently offers a double-daily operation to and from Dubai. With the addition of Abu Dhabi, the airline expects to see high demand for travel to Hong Kong and other Asian destinations through its second destination in the UAE.

Cathay Pacific Chief Executive Tony Tyler said: “We are extremely excited about being able to expand our network in 2011 with new services to Chicago and Abu Dhabi. We already have a significant presence in both the United States and the Middle East, and these new destinations will help to meet demand for both business and leisure travel to and from Hong Kong. The continued expansion of our network highlights our commitment to boosting our home city’s role as one of the world’s great international aviation hubs.”

With the launch of these two new services, Cathay Pacific will serve a total of 50 online passenger destinations.

In addition to launching new destinations, Cathay Pacific will also strengthen services to two key destinations in North America – New York and Toronto. The former will get three more flights a week from 27 March to 1 May 2011, making a total of 24 flights a week, and from 2 May will become a four-times-daily service. Toronto, meanwhile, will have two more flights a week added from 1 May, turning it into a double-daily service.

Full details of the schedules for the new destinations and service enhancements can be found below. All new flights will be open for sale on 9 December.

[diablo234]

[diablo234]

[diablo234]

O'Hare's updates could help flights take off on time
By Judy Keen, USA TODAY
http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/s...ime/45765558/1

CHICAGO – Ray Franz, a construction company manager, catches flights at O'Hare International Airport for business trips at least once a month because it's convenient to his home in Lake County, Ill. But he has a colleague who refuses to use the airport.

Franz, 45, understands why some people steer clear of O'Hare. The layout is cramped and the terminals are "starting to get dated," he says. Besides, he says, "The flow of people through security is just awful."

Still, Franz doesn't think flights into and out of O'Hare are delayed any more often than at other big airports. Most important, he says, "You can get anywhere from here — that's key."

Fifty-six years after O'Hare's first commercial flights, the city has reached a deal that allows it to continue an expansion plan that includes new runways, airfield improvements and a new terminal.The project is meant to ease congestion and reduce the delays that contribute to O'Hare's bad reputation among some of the 66.6 million passengers who use it each year.


The city, which operates the airport, "is positioning O'Hare to set the standards for the industry well into the future," says Chicago Aviation Commissioner Rosemarie Andolino.

The Federal Aviation Administration, she notes, estimates that when the last new runway is done in 2020, delays will be reduced by 64%.

The pressure for upgrades is mounting. As the economy rebounds, "The bogeyman of major congestion lurks on the horizon" without major runway improvements, says Joseph Schwieterman, a transportation professor at Chicago's DePaul University.

Completing the plan will cost $3.4 billion. Parts of the "modernization," including a new west terminal, are on hold temporarily, while $1.17 billion worth of work is underway.

The split timetable came after United and American airlines, which have hubs at O'Hare, sued earlier this year to stop the sale of $1 billion in bonds to finance the project. The airlines said demand didn't justify the expansion and accused the city of violating lease agreements giving them the authority to sign off on such projects.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former Illinois congressman, helped broker a deal last month that ended the lawsuit and allowed the project to proceed: "This is a landmark achievement that will benefit air travelers throughout the entire nation."

Negotiations on the rest of the original plan will begin by March 2013.

"O'Hare has an obsolete design that can't be realistically updated in one grand stroke," Schwieterman says. "By taking it step by step, the city has retained a sense of momentum."

The project has created some negative headlines and feelings locally. After years of court battles, the city is now relocating 1,200 graves from St. Johannes Cemetery in Bensenville, Ill., to make room for a new runway.

About 400 residential and business buildings in Bensenville were demolished for the project. The community received a $16 million payment for dropping its opposition. Village President Frank Soto says millions of dollars were spent by his predecessor's administration fighting a battle it could only "delay, not win."

Bensenville hopes to capitalize on its proximity to O'Hare by developing industrial parks, condos, hotels and restaurants. Residents dislike flight paths over their homes, Soto says, "but we can appreciate the benefits" of having an airport next door.

A modern wonder

When President Kennedy dedicated O'Hare in March 1963, he called it "one of the wonders of the modern world."

What is now O'Hare International Airport was an aircraft manufacturing plant during World War II. It was made a public airfield when Midway Airport, which opened in 1928, became too crowded. It was named for naval aviator Edward "Butch" O'Hare, a World War II hero.

By 1962, after Midway's operations were transferred to O'Hare, 10 million passengers used the newer airport, making it the world's busiest. O'Hare was the world's third-busiest airport for passenger traffic in 2010, after airports in Atlanta and Beijing.

When it opened, O'Hare's location on the edge of the city was much less developed. Now, some of its problems mirror those that prompted the shift of flights from Midway decades ago: O'Hare is hemmed in by development and accessed by congested roads.

The Kennedy Expressway, completed in 1960, is the most direct route to O'Hare from the downtown loop. The 17-mile trip often takes more than an hour. Rail service from the city was extended to O'Hare in 1984.

Ending traffic jams on the airfield is one of the primary goals of the modernization project.

O'Hare now has seven runways, six of which intersect. A new air traffic control tower and runway opened in 2008, ending federally imposed caps on flights. When the project is done, O'Hare will have eight runways in a more efficient parallel configuration.

Altering the runway design to simplify "the most complex airfield geometry of any hub" is crucial, says Mary Rose Loney, an aviation consultant who served as Chicago's airport commissioner from 1996 to 2000. Some delays at O'Hare, especially during winter, can be blamed on the interlocking runways, she says.

Changing them, she says, will allow O'Hare to "accomplish efficiencies and capacity enhancements" like those at airports in Dallas, Orlando and Denver.

Getting out of O'Hare on time

"What do I dislike about O'Hare? Mostly, I worry about delays and canceled flights," says Melissa Larson, 33, a financial adviser who lives in Los Angeles and flies through O'Hare twice a month on business trips.

Odds against getting out of O'Hare on time are higher than at many other large U.S. airports.

In January, 73.9% of flights left O'Hare on time, putting it 21st on a Transportation Department report ranking 29 airports. Midway, Chicago's other airport, was in last place with 60%. In first place: Seattle-Tacoma International, where 85.1% of flights departed on time.

The factors that make O'Hare appealing to passengers — the capacity that allows it to schedule flights to many destinations — also contribute to its problems, says Stephen Van Beek of LeighFisher, a transportation management consulting firm.

"They have service to destinations that most airports can only pray for," he says. "But it is not a new facility, so it has challenges."

Van Beek says the top priority for airports seeking to improve on-time performance is to ensure that runways, gates, alleyways and parking positions on the airfield make it easier "to move an airplane through the airport." For a landlocked facility such as O'Hare, he says, that's not easy.

Because O'Hare is a major national hub, Andolino says, delays here can ripple across the country. Once capacity improves, she says, fewer delays "will be felt systemwide, though clearly the full benefits will not materialize until the entire runway configuration is implemented."

Avoiding O'Hare 'at all costs'

Frequent business traveler Mark Hartong, 52, an engineer for the federal government who lives in Fairfax, Va., likes some things about O'Hare: the quick train ride into the city, convenient transfers if his arrival and departure gates are in the same terminal, ample flight options.

His list of dislikes, though, is longer: inconvenient rental car facilities, traffic on the Kennedy Expressway, long hikes between terminals, bad restaurants, unpleasant restrooms, slow security lines, unreliable wireless connections and crowds everywhere.

Hartong senses that "there still seem to be more flights that are trying to arrive or depart at the same time than" O'Hare can handle. He tries to avoid it "at all costs," he says. If everything is going well, the airport "is simply purgatory. If things aren't going well," it's more like the opposite of heaven, he says.

Passenger reviews like those "matter a lot," Andolino says. Besides improving the airfield, she says, upgrades are planned for access and the quality, efficiency and appearance of amenities and terminal facilities. The goal, she says, is to "improve the passenger experience while in the airport."

Loney says the planned improvements should "strengthen O'Hare's reputation as a preeminent, reliable and dependable hub airport." Passengers who experience disappointing service from the time they leave home until their flight takes off, she says, tend to "paint a wide stroke of blame" they attribute generally to "the airport."

Bob McGuire, 49, a law enforcement trainer from Danbury, Conn., who travels often for work, says O'Hare isn't worse than other airports. "No matter where you fly through," he says, "there's always issues."

Still, many patrons say the makeover is overdue. The airport "hasn't been able to keep up with the times," says Jodi Gullaksen, 58, a retired airline employee from Lake Zurich, Ill. She hates fighting traffic to get to O'Hare, finds the terminals "too congested" and wishes there were more diversions such as shopping.

Bill Schaefer, 41, a systems analyst from New York, agrees. "I have a hard time sleeping when I know I have to fly through O'Hare the next day," the frequent business flier says. "It just feels like a place that should work better than it does."

..

[diablo234]

Iceland Express is lauching non-stop service to Reykjavik from Chicago O' Hare begining in June 10.

http://www.icelandexpress.com/upload...re/100819.html

[skytrax]

nice!

[diablo234]

Another map of the new runways/runway extensions in addition to the locations of the new proposed terminals/terminal extensions.

[dumbfword]

I'd love to see hometown Skidmore, Owings and Merrill design the new terminals

[diablo234]

Suburbs still want western terminal at O'Hare
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/2...ews/703289987/

By Marni Pyke

A western terminal and its promise as a cash cow driving economic growth helped convince suburbs around O'Hare to drop resistance to airport expansion and join Chicago in its quest for more runways.

But now with uncertainty about the western terminal's future — when and if it will be built at all — local leaders are adjusting expectations.

“I think it will happen but we have some big obstacles,” DuPage County Chairman Dan Cronin said.

After months of feuding, the city with United and American Airlines announced a deal March 14 that ends a lawsuit by the carriers and allows for construction of a runway at O'Hare International Airport's southern end.

Absent from the pact is the western terminal, estimated to cost about $2 billion. The airlines and Chicago agreed to kick other outstanding issues down the road to 2013. United and American opposed the terminal, expected to be used by smaller rival airlines.

“The western terminal complex will only be developed as demand dictates,” Chicago Department of Aviation officials said in an e-mail Friday, adding that “only the users of this facility will be responsible for its costs.”

That puts the future of a western terminal in the hands of United and American's competitors. But with the shaky economy affecting air travel, it's questionable when or if willing investors will step up.

The vision for the airport's western side included extending the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway east from its terminus in Itasca into O'Hare along with a terminal. That was anticipated to trigger development with restaurants, shops and industry rivaling towns to the east like Rosemont.

The expressway project is inching forward as state planners search for funding. Chicago would build parking and provide transport — likely buses — to existing terminals once the expressway reaches O'Hare.

Bensenville Village President Frank Soto in 2009 negotiated a $16 million deal with Chicago ending years of lawsuits hampering airport expansion.

Two years later, Soto still thinks western access is an economic engine for the area. But “whether it's a four-cylinder or an eight-cylinder depends on whether it's a parking garage or a terminal. A terminal's the best option because it creates many more opportunities,” Soto said.

Cronin agreed, noting that the economic “promise will not be realized without the terminal,” he said. “If you're talking about a roadway and a hole in the fence with a parking lot, it's not my vision.”

Historically, DuPage suburbs along with Elk Grove Village fought O'Hare expansion, which involved taking a chunk out of northeast Bensenville. But in 2003, former DuPage Chairman Robert Schillerstrom convinced his board to change course despite opposition from longtime Bensenville Village President John Geils.

Schillerstrom and Geils are no longer in office and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley will be succeeded by Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel in May.

“I'm anxious to sit down with Mayor-elect Emanuel and have a frank discussion,” Cronin said.

“There's a certain amount of uncertainty because of the transition. My vision of western access must include the terminal and western access — there's no doubt about it.”

As to the possibility of the terminal dropping off the radar screen, Soto doesn't blame the city.

“It's not an issue the city of Chicago had control over,” he said. But, he'd rather see the terminal built first, before the runway.

The soft economy and high fuel prices will continue to dog the western terminal for now, aviation expert and DePaul University professor Joseph Schwieterman said.

“Skeptics forget that the expressway will likely bring much development to the communities west of O'Hare regardless of whether a new terminal is built,” he said.

“A new terminal, however, would immeasurably change things.”

..

[batbird]

This video is a good one as well.
A night time landing video at the O'Hare airport take from the inside of a 737 cockpit.

[diablo234]

City poised to seek investors for Chicago-O'Hare high-speed rail line
Chicago Business by Crains, April 12, 2011
http://www.ordexpressrail.com/newspress/city-poised-to-seek-investors-for-chicago-o'hare-high-speed-rail-line,-chicago-business-by-crains,-april-12,-2011.aspx

(AP) — Chicago is moving a step closer to a high-speed rail line running from downtown to O'Hare International Airport.
The city's aviation commissioner, Rosemarie Andolino, says the city will be posting on its Web site this week a notice called a request for information to possible investors and manufacturers.

Retiring Chicago Mayor Richard Daley says such a system is necessary if Chicago is to remain a global city.

He says such a system would be an elevated line and that it would run along one of two routes that would not require the demolition of homes.

Daley says he would expect construction on such a system would begin within a few years, but it remains unclear how realistic the plans are, given the high cost of such systems.

..

[diablo234]

Some photos of Terminal One (the United Terminal):

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr

[diablo234]

Some photos of Terminal 3 (the American Airlines Terminal):

[diablo234]

Earth Week Activities at Chicago's Airports -- Public Electric Vehicle Charging Station Open at O'Hare International Airport

http://www.ohare.com/PDF/News/1105206336549%5B1%5D.html

The Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) is recognizing Earth Week (April 18- 22) by highlighting some of the many sustainability initiatives at O'Hare and Midway International Airports.

Today's featured initiative is a public electric vehicle (EV) charging station now open at O'Hare International Airport. The EV charging station is a Level 2 station, which will fully charge a vehicle in approximately four to eight hours. The EV charging station is located in Hourly Parking, on the first floor of the main Terminal Parking Garage, immediately adjacent to the parking garage entrance to/from the Bus/Shuttle Center.



The O'Hare EV charging station was installed as part of a City-wide network of 280 EV charging stations. The Citywide EV charging station project is the first and largest of its kind in the United States. The Chicago Department of Environment (DOE) and a private company, 350Green, are facilitating the implementation of this important project.

At the Citywide announcement of the EV charging station project in February 2011, Mayor Richard M. Daley said, "Chicago is on the cutting edge of national efforts to prepare for electric vehicles. When this project is completed, Chicago will have the most DC quick-charging stations of any city in the country, with only the entire State of California surpassing our station numbers."

Credit cards are accepted for the EV charging station usage fees, which average $2 for 90 minutes of charging time. You can also sign up for a monthly user subscription with 350 Green. Please visit www.350green.com for more information.

"As an industry leader for sustainability initiatives, the Chicago Department of Aviation is pleased to offer electric vehicle charging station capability to motorists visiting O'Hare International Airport," said CDA Commissioner Rosemarie S. Andolino. "With more than 80 million passengers each year, Chicago's airports are an important part of this Citywide initiative."

..

[diablo234]

Photos of Terminal 5 (the International Terminal):

image hosted on flickr










image hosted on flickr








image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr

[Леонид]

great pics!! i love it!! hope to see this airport soon!!