The Federal Aviation Administration has issued an order that will limit the number of daily flights at Chicago O’Hare International Airport this summer, forcing airlines to pare back schedules planned for the peak travel season. The restriction sets a ceiling of 2,708 total arrivals and departures per day at O’Hare for the period from May 17 through October 24.
The FAA said the cap is intended to keep delays from deteriorating further than they did during last summer, when the airport experienced significant operational strain. The agency acted after airlines proposed schedules that, on peak days, would have exceeded 3,000 flights — roughly a 15% increase compared with the same period a year earlier — despite ongoing construction and other operational limits at the airport.
Officials and carriers spent several weeks negotiating before the FAA finalized the order. The agency cited last summer’s performance as a key reason for intervening: during the 2025 summer season, only about 56% of departures and 58% of arrivals at O’Hare departed and arrived on schedule, figures that reflected the impact of construction projects and congestion across the airfield.
The FAA framed the cap as a measure to prevent an overscheduled summer from producing worse results than those already recorded. Airlines that had penciled in more than 3,000 daily flights will need to reduce operations to meet the 2,708-per-day limit established by the agency for the specified summer window.
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