Federal Aviation Administration Pushes for Deeper Flight Reductions at O’Hare

Aviation regulators are demanding even steeper cuts to daily flights at Chicago's O'Hare Airport this summer than initially proposed. The FAA now wants to limit operations to around 2,500 flights per day, down from their original proposal of 2,800, citing concerns about system overload and delays.

Federal aviation officials are pushing for more dramatic reductions in daily flight operations at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport this summer, according to industry sources who spoke with Reuters on Thursday.

The Federal Aviation Administration initially proposed limiting daily operations to 2,800 flights last week, representing a decrease from the planned 3,080 summer flights but still higher than last summer’s 2,680 operations. However, sources indicate the agency now wants to cap daily flights at approximately 2,500, though this figure remains under negotiation.

Aviation officials conducted their first schedule reduction meeting on Wednesday with top executives from United Airlines, American Airlines, and other major carriers. Another session is planned for next week, with the FAA emphasizing that additional cuts are necessary to prevent operational disruptions.

The proposed summer schedules would establish 2026 as O’Hare’s most congested season on record. Agency officials stated last week that the “increase is significant and would stress the runway, terminal, and air traffic control systems.”

Representatives from the FAA, United, and American all refused to provide comments regarding the ongoing discussions.

United Airlines has scheduled 780 daily flights from O’Hare for this month, a substantial jump from the 541 average daily operations last year. The carrier announced plans to boost its mainline departures by 20% compared to the previous summer.

American Airlines revealed in December its intention to introduce 100 additional daily departures to more than 75 destinations from O’Hare in preparation for spring break travel. This represents a 30% surge in spring departures versus 2025, with daily operations climbing from 484 last summer to 526 this summer.

In internal communications this week, American criticized United’s “reckless” scheduling approach at O’Hare, warning it would result in “long taxi times, extensive tarmac delays, missed customer connections, disrupted crew sequencing and cascading disruptions across the system.”

United responded last week by expressing appreciation for the FAA and Transportation Department’s coordination efforts, stating they share “their commitment to running a safe and reliable operation” at O’Hare.

The flight reduction plan targets the summer travel period, which begins March 29 and continues through October 25.