The FAA on Thursday imposed scheduling limits at Chicago O’Hare in a bid to stave off a potential wave of delays and cancellations this summer.
The agency said it will cap flights at 2,708 per day, down from the over 3,080 on the airport’s original summer 2026 schedule. Allocations among airlines will be based on 2025’s approved schedules.
“FAA expects that air carriers will work cooperatively with the Slot Administration Office to implement the cap and allocations in a manner that is operationally feasible and achieves the stated goals of safety and efficiency,” officials wrote in an order set to be published in the Federal Register on Monday.
The limitations will be in effect from May 17 to Oct. 24.
The FAA signaled in February that it would intervene to prevent O’Hare from being pushed past its capacity. The airport, the country’s busiest by flight volume, has been the site of an escalating turf war between United, which is based in Chicago, and American. Both carriers greatly expanded their schedules at O’Hare this summer in a bid to capture valuable market share.
The competition helped drive up peak-day scheduled operations by 14.9% compared to the summer of 2025.
Transportation officials said O’Hare cannot accommodate that increase with its current infrastructure. Extensive construction work at the airport also complicated the picture, increasing the likelihood of flight delays and cancellations if the original summer 2026 schedule went into effect as planned.
“If you book a ticket, we want you and your family to have the certainty that you’ll fly without endless delays and cancellations,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement. “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.”
Both United and American released statements expressing appreciation for the DOT and FAA’s work on the issue. United said it is reviewing the order, while American said it has secured a “sufficient level” of flights at O’Hare to operate a “successful hub” there this summer.
