The Federal Aviation Administration has announced new action to prevent widespread flight delays at Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) this summer.
Last year, less than 60% of arrivals and departures were on time, and with the airport remaining the busiest in America by flight volume, the FAA has devised a plan with airline and ORD to address overscheduling.
This summer; ORD is scheduled to offer over 3,080 flights on peak days, representing a 14.9% peak-day increase over summer 2025. The FAA’s action, which is known as a scheduling reaction, will seek to limit this to 2,708 in order to prevent a more dramatic increase from last year’s peak daily schedule.
Limitations will take effect from 17 May to 24 October, with the FAA order allocating operations among airlines based on their approved summer 2025 schedules.
US Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy, said:If you book a ticket, we want you and your family to have the certainty that you’ll fly without endless delays and cancellations.
We successfully turned Newark Liberty International into the most on-time airport in the Tri-State Area by fixing telecoms issues at record speed and reducing overcapacity. Applying that same strategy at O’Hare – where unrealistic schedules were set to dramatically exceed what they could handle – will reduce delays and make this busy summer travel season a little easier.
Along with our work to modernise air traffic control and boost staffing, the Trump Administration is using every tool at its disposal to deliver a safe, efficient, and seamless flying experience.
The FAA has also announced it will be taking additional, decisive steps to improve both safety and efficiency at and around ORD, including bringing in more air traffic controllers and improving the speed of their training, optimising routes and airspace around Chicago to reduce delays and increasing Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) calls between the FAA, airlines and the airport during potential high-risk periods.
