O`Hare Airport: Amazing Come Back

I have been tracking almost all the major airports from all continents. Going by the statistics, I may have claimed that Dubai airport, or even the Frankfurt airport are simply amazing, but there is this one airport which is always going to hold a sweet spot on my lists, and it is none other than the Chicago`s O`Hare airport, which is one the busiest airport in the world and at one point it the all time busiest airport too, amazing. This airport is soo soo busy that things get absolutely insane. Literally on any given day, almost 70% of the flights are operating behind schedule. Additionally, this airport is one of the few airports which is located within the heart of the city, i.e. within the municipal limits.

It used to be perhaps the only airport in the world which had 3 sets of parallel runways pointing in different directions, giving it an unthinkable advantage, meaning, planes could take-off and land despite high winds or bad weather in the opposite direction literally. Certainly a favorite among airlines and passenger due to the connectivity and options, but over the years it has been too crowded and this lead to a lot of delays. Alongside is the layout plan of the O`Hare airport in the year 2001.

O`Hare runways were intersecting (Hail old planning) so not more than 3 runways could be used in any configuration, the current expansion rates demand non intersecting sets of runways, which could operate independently. The American Aviation Ministry was quick to recognize this and made a remarkable plan to alter the runways and convert them to an all parallel layout.

This meant, tons of changes to be made and billions of dollars of investment. But the results have been fabulous. Now, the O`Hare has a total of 8 runways, EIGHT parallel runways !!! (which is more than all operational runways in all the airports of Indian metro cities, haha). 6 runways are parallel are now parallel to each other, and the rest 2 are parallel in another direction. 

Alongside is the image of modern day O`Hare airport`s layout. The new layout allows independent operations of the runways. Simultaneously take-offs and landing, so no more delays. Good for the airlines and a win for passengers indeed. Now all of a sudden there are no flight delays and passengers are surprised too.

In previous posts, I have mentioned innumerable times that the Al Maktoum International Airport is slated to be the busiest airport of the future, but I feel that with these development at the O`Hare, a lot of new slots are generated for airlines and this will invite new routes and added frequencies to existing routes. The highest number of passengers this airport has managed is 76 million annually, but now with availability of new slots, and added infrastructure, this airport will be able to manage a cool 150 million.

Earlier only 3 runways could be used at any given time, but now, 6 can be used, so the capacity multiplies and the O`Hare may see better days ahead. Clearly, despite being one of the oldest airports, it is still ahead of its time even today...


Photo courtesy: Wikipedia.