214 Chicago O'Hare Airport Statistics for 2026

How many passengers use O'Hare each year?

O'Hare grew almost every year from 2012 to 2019, lost most of its traffic in the first year of the pandemic and has grown every year since 2022.

View data table

Passengers at O'Hare each year, in millions, on CDA's count of all arriving and departing passengers. 2021 is missing because CDA's December 2021 report could not be found. Each year comes from the release for that year; the link is to the latest one.

Period	Value
2012	66.8m
2013	67.1m
2014	70.1m
2015	77.0m
2016	78.0m
2017	79.8m
2018	83.2m
2019	84.6m
2020	30.9m
2022	68.3m
2023	73.9m
2024	80.0m
2025	84.9m

• CDA counted 66,831,028 passengers at O'Hare in 2012. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2012 air traffic data), Apr 2015)
• O'Hare had 67,087,921 passengers in 2013. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2013 air traffic data), Jun 2014)
• Passengers reached 70,075,204 in 2014. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2014 air traffic data), May 2015)
• They rose 9.81% to 76,949,504 in 2015. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2015 air traffic data), Feb 2016)
• O'Hare had 77,960,629 passengers in 2016. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2016 air traffic data), Mar 2017)
• Passengers rose 2.40% to 79,828,183 in 2017. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2017 air traffic data), Mar 2019)
• They rose 4.28% to 83,245,472 in 2018. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2018 air traffic data), Apr 2019)
• They rose 1.69% to 84,649,115 in 2019. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2019 air traffic data), Apr 2020)
• Passengers fell 63.54% to 30,860,251 in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2020 air traffic data), Mar 2021)
• O'Hare had 68,340,619 passengers in 2022, up 26.50% on 2021. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2022 air traffic data), Mar 2023)
• Passengers rose 8.13% to 73,894,226 in 2023. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2023 air traffic data), Mar 2024)
• They rose 8.56% to 80,043,050 in 2024. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2024 air traffic data), Mar 2025)
• O'Hare opened to commercial traffic in 1955 and served 176,902 passengers in its first year; passenger numbers rose to 10 million in 1962, when all scheduled Midway flights moved to O'Hare. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: history), Oct 2026)
• O'Hare and Midway together served more than 104 million passengers to over 280 destinations in 2025. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: network), Oct 2026)

CDA counts every passenger arriving and departing, including non-revenue passengers such as airline staff, from figures the airlines supply. The 2025 total is from CDA's revised December 2025 report, which matches ACI World's total. The FAA's enplanements count only revenue passengers boarding and appear in their own section; the two are not compared.

How busy is O'Hare in 2026?

O'Hare has had more passengers and more flights than a year earlier in every month of 2026 so far, on CDA's provisional figures.

View data table

Aircraft operations at O'Hare each month in 2026, in thousands, on CDA's provisional count of takeoffs and landings. Each month comes from the report for that month; the link is to the latest one.

Period	Value
Jan	64.7k
Feb	65.2k
Mar	76.5k
Apr	81.7k
May	86.3k
Jun	79.9k
Jul	82.4k
Aug	83.5k

• January 2026 had 5,723,906 passengers, up 2.57% on January 2025, and 64,695 aircraft operations, up 6.18%. (Chicago Department of Aviation (January 2026 air traffic data), Jan 2026)
• February 2026 had 5,865,214 passengers, up 14.8%, and 65,233 operations, up 16.04%. (Chicago Department of Aviation (February 2026 air traffic data), Feb 2026)
• March 2026 had 7,351,245 passengers, up 7.93%, and 76,549 operations, up 11.38%. (Chicago Department of Aviation (March 2026 air traffic data), Mar 2026)
• April 2026 had 7,219,981 passengers, up 9.67%, and 81,658 operations, up 17.28%. (Chicago Department of Aviation (April 2026 air traffic data), Apr 2026)
• May 2026 had 8,213,025 passengers, up 2.65%, and 86,271 operations, up 15.45%. (Chicago Department of Aviation (May 2026 air traffic data), May 2026)
• June 2026 had 8,234,643 passengers, up 2.3% on June 2025, on the revised figure in CDA's October 2026 release. (Chicago Department of Aviation (summer 2026 release), Oct 2026)
• June 2026 had 79,877 aircraft operations, up 3.65%. (Chicago Department of Aviation (June 2026 air traffic data), Aug 2026)
• July 2026 had 82,365 operations, up 5.52%, and passengers from January to July totalled 51,331,341, up 6.1%. (Chicago Department of Aviation (July 2026 air traffic data), Sep 2026)
• August 2026 had 8,238,466 passengers, up 2.73%, and 83,477 operations, up 8.86%. (Chicago Department of Aviation (August 2026 air traffic data), Oct 2026)
• From January to August 2026 O'Hare had 48,780,676 domestic passengers, up 5.33%, and 10,789,131 international passengers, up 6.94%; aircraft operations totalled 620,121, up 10.34%. (Chicago Department of Aviation (August 2026 traffic summary), Oct 2026)

All 2026 figures are CDA's provisional monthly counts and can be revised. June passengers use CDA's revised figure from its October 2026 release; the June report itself gave a lower, earlier figure. September and October 2026 reports were not out when this page was reviewed.

When is O'Hare busiest?

Summer is O'Hare's peak, and CDA called both summer 2025 and summer 2026 the busiest in the airport's history. CDA's record days for security screening in 2025 and 2026 fell in early August, around the Lollapalooza festival.

View data table

Passengers at O'Hare each month in 2025, in millions, on CDA's latest monthly figures. Each month comes from the report for that month; the link is to the latest one.

Period	Value
Jan	5.58m
Feb	5.11m
Mar	6.81m
Apr	6.58m
May	8.00m
Jun	8.05m
Jul	8.28m
Aug	8.02m
Sep	7.45m
Oct	7.92m
Nov	6.36m
Dec	6.69m

• January 2025 had 5,580,666 passengers, up 8.73% on January 2024. (Chicago Department of Aviation (January 2025 air traffic data), Jan 2025)
• April 2025 had 6,583,541 passengers. (Chicago Department of Aviation (April 2025 air traffic data), Jun 2026)
• November 2025 had 6,362,342 passengers. (Chicago Department of Aviation (November 2025 air traffic data), Jan 2026)
• December 2025 had 6,687,416 passengers, 71,549 aircraft operations and 171,507.0 metric tonnes of cargo. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2025 monthly totals), Apr 2026)
• More than 25 million passengers used O'Hare from June to August 2026, about 275,000 a day and up 2.7%, the airport's busiest summer in its history for the second year running, CDA said. (Chicago Department of Aviation (summer 2026 release), Oct 2026)
• Summer 2026 included more than 20.4 million domestic and nearly 4.6 million international passengers, and 245,719 takeoffs and landings. (Chicago Department of Aviation (summer 2026 release), Oct 2026)
• More than 24.3 million passengers used O'Hare in June, July and August 2025, beating the previous record of 24 million set in 2019 by 1.2%, CDA said. (Chicago Department of Aviation (summer 2025 release), Oct 2025)
• CDA's other record-breaking travel days in summer 2026 were 3 August with 118,737 passengers screened, 12 June with 118,542 and 21 June with 118,116. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: busiest days), Oct 2026)
• On Monday 4 August 2025, the day after Lollapalooza, 117,871 passengers cleared security at O'Hare, an all-time high at the time, CDA said. (Chicago Department of Aviation (July 2025 traffic release), Sep 2025)
• TSA screened just under 114,000 people at O'Hare on one day in June 2025, the most on a single day there at the time; 19 June 2025 was second with more than 111,000, and the previous record day was 19 July 2019. (TSA (O'Hare single-day record, Jun 2025), Jun 2025)
• Forecast: airlines projected more than 1.63 million travellers at O'Hare in Thanksgiving week 2025, 25 November to 1 December, up 9.5%, with nearly 290,000 on Sunday 30 November. (Chicago Department of Aviation (Thanksgiving 2025 release), Nov 2025)
• Forecast: more than 4 million passengers were expected over the year-end holidays from 19 December 2025 to 5 January 2026, nearly 224,000 a day and up 7.5%, peaking above 263,000 on Saturday 20 December. (Chicago Department of Aviation (holiday 2025 release), Dec 2025)
• Forecast: spring break traffic from 19 to 30 March 2026 was projected 13% above spring break 2025, with more than 296,000 passengers on Thursday 19 March. (Chicago Department of Aviation (spring break 2026 release), Mar 2026)
• Forecast: more than 1.75 million passengers were projected over Memorial Day 2026, 21 to 26 May, up 15.6%. (Chicago Department of Aviation (Memorial Day 2026 release), May 2026)
• Forecast: more than 1.62 million passengers were projected from 1 to 6 July 2026, up 8.1%, with more than 300,000 on Sunday 5 July. (Chicago Department of Aviation (Fourth of July 2026 release), Jul 2026)
• Forecast: more than 1.41 million passengers were projected over Labor Day 2026, 3 to 8 September, up 5.9%, peaking above 261,000 on Sunday 6 September. (Chicago Department of Aviation (Labor Day 2026 release), Sep 2026)

Monthly passengers are CDA totals of arrivals and departures. CDA re-issued its April to October 2025 reports in June 2026, so July 2025 here uses the re-issued figure of 8,275,222, not the earlier one behind CDA's September 2025 release. Busiest-day figures are passengers screened at TSA checkpoints, departing only, and are not comparable with daily passenger totals. Holiday figures are airline projections reported by CDA before each period, not actual traffic. "Busiest" and "record" are CDA's and TSA's own words.

How many O'Hare passengers fly internationally?

Most O'Hare passengers fly domestic, and international traffic grew more slowly than domestic traffic in 2025 on CDA's count. CDA's separate "Customs" count fell slightly in 2025.

View data table

International passengers at O'Hare each year, arriving and departing, in millions, on CDA's count. 2021 is missing because CDA's December 2021 report could not be found. Each year comes from the release for that year; the link is to the latest one.

Period	Value
2012	9.97m
2013	10.26m
2014	10.75m
2015	11.01m
2016	11.75m
2017	12.47m
2018	13.95m
2019	14.20m
2020	3.62m
2022	11.27m
2023	13.55m
2024	14.52m
2025	14.85m

• CDA counted 14,848,609 international passengers at O'Hare in 2025, up 2.27%, and 70,007,409 domestic passengers, up 6.79%. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2025 passenger data), Apr 2026)
• Non-revenue passengers rose sharply in 2025: 2,658,753 domestic, up 30.08%, and 467,007 international, up 77.53%; revenue passengers rose 6.04% on domestic flights and 0.88% on international flights. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2025 passenger data), Apr 2026)
• International passengers numbered 9,973,012 in 2012, and CDA's Customs count was 4,423,491. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2012 international data), Apr 2015)
• There were 11,006,014 international and 65,943,490 domestic passengers in 2015. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2015 international data), Feb 2016)
• There were 12,465,516 international and 67,362,667 domestic passengers in 2017. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2017 international data), Mar 2019)
• There were 14,198,789 international and 70,450,326 domestic passengers in 2019. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2019 international data), Apr 2020)
• International passengers fell to 3,619,401 in 2020, while domestic passengers fell to 27,240,850. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2020 international data), Mar 2021)
• There were 11,274,674 international and 57,065,945 domestic passengers in 2022. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2022 international data), Mar 2023)
• There were 13,552,841 international and 60,341,385 domestic passengers in 2023. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2023 international data), Mar 2024)
• There were 14,517,654 international and 65,525,396 domestic passengers in 2024. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2024 international data), Mar 2025)
• CDA's "Customs" count was 5,993,221 passengers in 2025, down 1.52% on 2024. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2025 Customs data), Apr 2026)
• The Customs count was 6,082,972 in 2024 and 5,665,411 in 2019. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2024 Customs data), Mar 2025)
• The Customs count fell to 1,546,801 in 2020. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2020 Customs data), Mar 2021)
• From January to August 2026 the Customs count was 4,438,718, up 6.24%; August 2026 alone had 635,021, up 3.28%. (Chicago Department of Aviation (August 2026 Customs data), Oct 2026)
• About 1.6 million international air passengers used O'Hare in July 2026 on the US travel office's count, fourth among US airports after New York JFK with 3.3 million, Miami with 2.3 million and Los Angeles with 2.3 million, and level with Newark. (NTTO (international air passengers, Jul 2026), Jul 2026)
• In August 2025 the count was about 1.5 million, fifth among US airports after New York JFK, Los Angeles, Miami and Newark. (NTTO (international air passengers, Aug 2025), Aug 2025)
• CBP says its EPP arrivals process at O'Hare cut processing time for US citizens from 60 seconds to 10 seconds, giving a 74% cut in wait times and 76% fewer lost connections for United and American passengers. (CBP (Chicago arrivals processing, May 2025), May 2025)

CDA's international passengers count both directions, including non-revenue passengers and flights to Canada and the Caribbean. Its "Customs" row is a separate, smaller count that the reports do not define further. The US travel office (NTTO) counts passengers on non-stop international flights from border records (APIS/I-92). The three are different measures and are not compared. CBP does not state the period behind its percentages.

How many passengers board at O'Hare on the FAA's count?

The FAA counts only revenue passengers boarding, a different measure from CDA's totals. On this measure O'Hare has ranked between third and fifth among US airports every year since 2015.

View data table

Revenue passenger enplanements at O'Hare each year, in millions, on the FAA's count of passengers boarding. Each year comes from the release for that year; the link is to the latest one.

Period	Value
2014	33.8m
2015	36.3m
2016	37.6m
2017	38.6m
2018	39.9m
2019	40.9m
2020	14.6m
2021	26.4m
2022	33.1m
2023	35.8m
2024	38.6m
2025	40.7m

• Atlanta was the busiest US airport for enplanements in 2025 with 51,459,786, and Denver was fourth with 39,976,695. (FAA (CY2025 enplanements ranking), Sep 2026)
• O'Hare had 38,575,693 enplanements in 2024, up 7.62%, fourth in the US. (FAA (CY2024 enplanements), Sep 2025)
• It had 35,843,104 in 2023, up 8.22%, fifth in the US. (FAA (CY2023 enplanements), Oct 2024)
• It had 33,120,474 in 2022, up 25.69%, fourth in the US. (FAA (CY2022 enplanements), 2023)
• It had 26,350,976 in 2021, up 80.41%, fourth in the US. (FAA (CY2021 enplanements), Sep 2022)
• Enplanements fell 64.26% to 14,606,034 in 2020, fourth in the US. (FAA (CY2020 enplanements), Nov 2021)
• O'Hare had 40,871,223 enplanements in 2019, up 2.50%, third in the US. (FAA (CY2019 enplanements), Sep 2020)
• It had 39,873,927 in 2018, up 3.32%, third in the US. (FAA (CY2018 enplanements), 2018)
• It had 36,305,668 in 2015, up 7.28% from 33,843,426 in 2014, third in the US. (FAA (CY2015 enplanements), 2015)
• On the BTS count of passengers on US flights, O'Hare was third among 769 US airports in the 12 months to August 2026, with 35,084 thousand arriving and 34,994 thousand departing. (BTS (TranStats O'Hare passengers), Nov 2026)
• Forecast: in its November 2022 environmental assessment the FAA accepted a growth rate of 2.1% a year for O'Hare enplanements and expected them to return to 2019 levels in 2023. (FAA (O'Hare Terminal Area Plan assessment), Nov 2022)

Enplanements are revenue passengers boarding at O'Hare, from the FAA's ACAIS data for calendar years; they leave out arriving passengers and non-revenue travellers. CDA's passenger totals count both directions and include non-revenue passengers, so the two series move differently and are not compared. The BTS figure covers scheduled passengers on US flights over a 12-month period. The 2.1% growth rate and 2023 return date are FAA forecasts made in 2022, not traffic.

How does O'Hare rank among the world's airports?

O'Hare is near the top of every global airport ranking. ACI World put it first for flights in 2025, and OAG ranks it among the best connected hubs in the world.

1. 1 Atlanta 106.3m
2. 2 Dubai 95.2m
3. 3 Tokyo Haneda 91.7m
4. 4 Dallas/Fort Worth 85.7m
5. 5 Shanghai Pudong 85.0m
6. 6 Chicago O'Hare 84.9m
7. 7 London Heathrow 84.5m
8. 8 Istanbul 84.4m
9. 9 Guangzhou 83.6m
10. 10 Denver 82.4m

• On ACI World's passenger table for 2025, O'Hare was just behind Shanghai Pudong with 84,994,548 and just ahead of London Heathrow with 84,482,126; ACI puts O'Hare's total 6.0% above 2024 and 0.2% above 2019. (ACI World (2025 passenger ranking), Jul 2026)
• Atlanta was second for aircraft movements in 2025 with 807,625; O'Hare had been second in 2024, and ACI puts its 2025 movements 6.8% below 2019. (ACI World (2025 rankings), Jul 2026)
• ACI-NA ranked O'Hare third in North America for passengers in 2025, behind Atlanta and Dallas/Fort Worth and ahead of Denver, and first for aircraft movements. (ACI-NA (2025 North American rankings), Jul 2026)
• Further down ACI-NA's passenger top 10 were Los Angeles with 73,709,594, New York JFK with 62,629,455, Orlando with 57,675,573, Miami with 55,314,661, Las Vegas with 55,030,375 and San Francisco with 54,532,613. (ACI-NA (2025 passenger top 10), Jul 2026)
• In 2024 O'Hare was second in the world for aircraft operations, and fourth in the US and eighth in the world for passengers, on ACI figures cited by CDA. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2025 Legislative Guide), Oct 2025)
• In January 2026 CDA said O'Hare was the busiest airfield in the United States in 2025, on preliminary FAA data. (Chicago Department of Aviation (US busiest airfield release), Jan 2026)
• O'Hare has been the Most Connected Airport in the United States in OAG's Megahubs Index since 2017, and was seventh for international connections in 2025, CDA says. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: rankings), Oct 2026)
• In OAG's 2025 index O'Hare offered potential connections to 214 domestic destinations on the busiest day of the year, and moved up two places to seventh worldwide. (Chicago Department of Aviation (OAG ranking release), Sep 2025)
• OAG ranked O'Hare fifth in its 2026 international Megahubs index, up from seventh, and the most connected Megahub in the Americas; capacity rose by over 10.6% and potential connections by 9.8%. (OAG (Megahubs 2026 global index), Sep 2026)

ACI World and ACI-NA rank airports on total passengers and on aircraft movements, takeoffs plus landings. CDA quoted a preliminary ACI movements figure in April 2026 that differs from ACI's final release; this page uses the final. OAG's Megahubs index measures potential connections in airline schedules on the busiest day, not traffic.

How many flights does O'Hare handle?

O'Hare had more takeoffs and landings than any other airport in 2025 on ACI World's ranking. It handled more in 2019, and more again in 2004, the busiest year to date in CDA's words.

View data table

Aircraft operations at O'Hare each year, in thousands of takeoffs and landings, from the annual table in CDA's December 2025 noise report.

Period	Value
2016	867.6k
2017	867.0k
2018	903.7k
2019	919.7k
2020	538.2k
2021	684.2k
2022	711.6k
2023	720.6k
2024	776.0k
2025	857.4k

• O'Hare's 2025 operations were equal to one takeoff or landing every 37 seconds, and the airport reclaimed the title of the world's busiest by aircraft movements, CDA says, citing ACI World. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: flights), Oct 2026)
• In 2025 O'Hare had 753,851 domestic and 103,541 international aircraft operations. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2025 operations data), Apr 2026)
• Domestic airlines flew 722,553 of the 2025 operations and international airlines 85,879; cargo operators flew 12,292 domestic and 17,662 international operations; general aviation 10,264 and miscellaneous 8,742. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2025 operations data), Apr 2026)
• O'Hare had 878,108 operations in 2012. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2012 operations data), Apr 2015)
• Operations reached 903,747 in 2018. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2018 operations data), Apr 2019)
• They were 919,704 in 2019 and 538,211 in 2020. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2019 operations data), Apr 2020)
• Operations were 711,561 in 2022, 720,582 in 2023 and 776,036 in 2024. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2024 operations data), Mar 2025)
• In 2004 O'Hare had 992,471 takeoffs and landings, its busiest year to date, CDA says. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: history), Oct 2026)
• In 2025 O'Hare had 56,217 operations in February, 78,054 in July and 79,502 in October. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2025 noise report), Dec 2025)
• O'Hare was first among 769 US airports for scheduled departing flights in the 12 months to August 2026, with 390,482, up 11.36%. (BTS (TranStats O'Hare flights), Nov 2026)
• O'Hare averaged 2,676 aircraft operations a day in August 2026, 403 of them at night; 1,259 were by narrow-body jets, 1,157 by regional aircraft, 219 by wide-bodies and 41 by general aviation. (Chicago Department of Aviation (August 2026 noise report: fleet mix), Aug 2026)
• Daily operations by type that month included the Boeing 737 with 711, the Embraer 170/175 with 631, the CRJ family with 511 and the Airbus A319/320/321 with 474; the Boeing 787 had 72, the 777 59 and the 747 38. (Chicago Department of Aviation (August 2026 noise report: fleet mix), Aug 2026)
• Forecast: in August 2019 CDA forecast 967,254 aircraft operations in 2025, 975,771 in 2026 and 1,013,856 in 2030, growth of 0.9% a year from 2018; the FAA used it in its 2022 environmental assessment. (FAA (O'Hare Terminal Area Plan forecast), Nov 2022)

CDA's aircraft operations count every takeoff and landing, including cargo, general aviation and miscellaneous flights. CDA's noise report says its table is based on the FAA's ATADS data, but its totals match CDA's traffic reports. The BTS counts scheduled departures only. The 2025-2030 figures are a pre-pandemic CDA forecast, not traffic, and are not compared with actual operations.

Which airlines fly the most at O'Hare?

O'Hare is a two-hub airport: United and American, with their regional partners, carry the largest shares of its passengers. United is the larger of the two on both BTS passenger shares and OAG flight shares.

• United 39.36%
• American 22.67%
• SkyWest 10.10%
• Envoy Air 8.46%
• Delta 3.52%
• Other 15.88%

• On the BTS count from September 2025 to August 2026, United carried 27,585 thousand passengers, American 15,889 thousand (22.67%), SkyWest 7,081 thousand (10.10%), Envoy Air 5,926 thousand (8.46%) and Delta 2,470 thousand (3.52%); all others had 15.88%. (BTS (TranStats O'Hare carriers), Nov 2026)
• United averaged 541 daily departures from O'Hare in 2025, 31% more than its next largest competitor, United says. (United Airlines (O'Hare summer 2026 release), Jan 2026)
• United planned up to 750 flights a day from O'Hare in summer 2026, 200 more than its next largest competitor, including more than 370 daily mainline departures, to 222 nonstop destinations: 47 international and 175 in the US. (United Airlines (O'Hare summer 2026 release), Jan 2026)
• United has more than 18,000 Chicago-based employees and planned to hire about 2,500 more at O'Hare in 2026; it expects O'Hare to become the third largest hub of any US airline. (United Airlines (O'Hare summer 2026 release), Jan 2026)
• United's Connection Saver helped 240,000 passengers make their connection at O'Hare in 2025, and 1.25 million passengers used its Bag Drop Shortcut there. (United Airlines (O'Hare summer 2026 release), Jan 2026)
• United won five more O'Hare gates in the City's 2025 reallocation and says it accounts for 99% of the airport's seat growth compared with 2019. (United Airlines (new O'Hare routes, Oct 2025), Oct 2025)
• More than 40,000 American Airlines customers pass through its Terminal 3 home each day on more than 500 daily flights, American says. (American Airlines (Chicago to Tokyo release), Jul 2026)
• American added 100 peak daily departures at O'Hare for spring 2026, 30% more than in spring 2025, taking it past 500 and making O'Hare the third-largest hub in its network; it added 29 new destinations from O'Hare in 2025. (American Airlines (Chicago spring 2026 release), Dec 2025)
• Forecast: American expected more than 5.2 million customers at O'Hare in summer 2026, 11% more than in 2025 and 48% more than in 2023. (American Airlines (summer 2026 outlook), May 2026)
• OAG says United operates just 49% of flights at O'Hare, the lowest share for a dominant airline among the top US hubs; Delta has 80% at Atlanta. (OAG (Megahubs 2026 US domestic index), Sep 2026)

The BTS shares are by operating airline on US flights, so passengers on United Express and American Eagle flights flown by SkyWest and Envoy are counted under those airlines. OAG's 49% is a share of scheduled flights. United's and American's own figures cover different periods and measures and are not compared with each other or with the BTS shares. Summer schedules are airline plans.

Where can you fly from O'Hare?

O'Hare has the widest domestic network of any US airport on OAG's count, and New York LaGuardia is its top US destination on BTS figures. Both hub airlines keep adding cities, and new long-haul routes in 2026 include Manila and Cairo.

1. 1 New York LaGuardia 1,376.7k
2. 2 Los Angeles 1,168.1k
3. 3 San Francisco 983.0k
4. 4 Dallas/Fort Worth 974.6k
5. 5 Denver 969.1k
6. 6 Orlando 956.6k
7. 7 Boston 954.9k
8. 8 Newark 879.8k
9. 9 Houston Bush 870.9k
10. 10 Phoenix 858.2k

• O'Hare had about 1,000 daily direct flights to over 190 US cities and about 120 daily direct flights to over 70 international destinations on 48 airlines in 2025, CDA says. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: network), Oct 2026)
• From mid-2024 to mid-2025 it had about 940 daily direct flights to US cities and 116 to almost 75 international destinations on 49 airlines. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2025 Legislative Guide), Oct 2025)
• OAG counted 227 domestic destinations from O'Hare in 2026, up from 214 and the widest domestic reach of any US airport, with 83,647 potential connections on the busiest day. (OAG (Megahubs 2026 US domestic index), Sep 2026)
• New international destinations from July 2025 to June 2026 were Cairo, Halifax, Naples, San Salvador, Curaçao, Manila, Puebla, Tel Aviv and Edmonton. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: new routes), Oct 2026)
• American Airlines added 13 new cities from O'Hare in 2025 and 10 in 2026, and United Airlines added eight in 2025 and 13 in 2026. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: new routes), Oct 2026)
• More than 40 new domestic and international routes started at O'Hare and Midway in 2026; Philippine Airlines' three weekly flights to Manila are the first nonstop service between the two cities. (Chicago Department of Aviation (new routes 2026 release), Nov 2026)
• United launched daily year-round flights from O'Hare to Tokyo Narita on 24 October 2026 with Boeing 787-8 aircraft, the only US airline on the route. (United Airlines (Tokyo Narita release), May 2026)
• American plans to fly O'Hare to Tokyo Narita from 27 March 2027, its 11th long-haul route from O'Hare. (American Airlines (Tokyo Narita release), Jul 2026)
• United added 10 new domestic destinations from O'Hare for 2026, six of them served only by United. (United Airlines (new destinations release), Oct 2025)
• Over the 12 months to August 2026, Denver fell from 1,060.49 thousand passengers to 969.14 thousand, while Orlando grew from 847.12 thousand to 956.55 thousand and Boston from 883.45 thousand to 954.85 thousand. (BTS (TranStats O'Hare routes), Nov 2026)
• When O'Hare opened for business in October 1955, four airlines flew to 23 destinations: United, American, TWA and Northwest Orient. (Chicago Department of Aviation (70 years release), Oct 2025)

The BTS route figures count passengers flying from O'Hare to each US airport on US airlines (T-100 Domestic Market), one direction only. CDA's flight and destination counts are approximate and cover different periods. OAG counts destinations in airline schedules. The O'Hare and Midway route count is for both airports.

How much cargo goes through O'Hare?

O'Hare is one of North America's biggest cargo airports on ACI-NA's ranking, and its cargo grew in 2020 when passenger traffic collapsed. Tonnage has risen each year since 2023.

View data table

Cargo at O'Hare each year, freight, express and mail, in millions of metric tonnes, on CDA's count. 2021 is missing because CDA's December 2021 report could not be found. Each year comes from the release for that year; the link is to the latest one.

Period	Value
2017	1.77m t
2018	1.86m t
2019	1.79m t
2020	2.00m t
2022	2.24m t
2023	1.91m t
2024	2.07m t
2025	2.13m t

• Of O'Hare's 2025 cargo, 1,928,542.1 tonnes were freight, 148,250.0 express and 48,836.0 mail; 1,492,625.1 tonnes were international and 633,003.0 domestic. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2025 cargo breakdown), Apr 2026)
• O'Hare handled 1,774,637.1 tonnes of cargo in 2017. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2017 cargo data), Mar 2019)
• It handled 1,862,353.1 tonnes in 2018 and 1,788,000.7 tonnes in 2019. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2019 cargo data), Apr 2020)
• Cargo rose 12.01% to 2,002,671.3 tonnes in 2020, the year passenger traffic collapsed. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2020 cargo data), Mar 2021)
• Cargo was 2,235,708.9 tonnes in 2022, down 12.85% on 2021. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2022 cargo data), Mar 2023)
• It was 1,906,462.5 tonnes in 2023. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2023 cargo data), Mar 2024)
• It was 2,074,005.7 tonnes in 2024. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2024 cargo data), Mar 2025)
• From January to August 2026 O'Hare handled 1,442,255.3 tonnes of cargo, up 2.65%, of which 1,039,082.4 tonnes were international; August 2026 alone had 203,036.6 tonnes, up 8.72%. (Chicago Department of Aviation (August 2026 cargo data), Oct 2026)
• ACI World ranked O'Hare 12th in the world for air cargo in 2025, up from 13th in 2024 and 18th in 2019, with tonnage 2.5% above 2024 and 20.9% above 2019 on its count. (ACI World (2025 cargo ranking), Jul 2026)
• ACI-NA ranked O'Hare fifth in North America for cargo in 2025, up 2.5%. (ACI-NA (2025 cargo ranking), Jul 2026)
• All-cargo aircraft landing at O'Hare weighed 8,482,484,822 lb in 2025, up 3.97%, sixth among US airports on the FAA's count; Anchorage, Louisville and Memphis were the top three. (FAA (CY2025 all-cargo landed weight), Sep 2026)
• The all-cargo landed weight was 8,158,909,140 lb in 2024, up 12.38% from 7,259,899,848 lb in 2023, seventh in the US. (FAA (CY2024 all-cargo landed weight), Sep 2025)
• Freight and mail on US flights at O'Hare totalled 1,230 million lb in the 12 months to August 2026, down 7.25%, ninth among US airports, the BTS says. (BTS (TranStats O'Hare freight), Nov 2026)
• O'Hare has about two million square feet of airside cargo buildings that can take more than 40 jumbo freighters at once on four ramps, and another two million square feet landside; over 25 cargo airlines serve it and about 5,000 jobs there are in cargo. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: cargo), Oct 2026)

CDA's cargo is freight, express and mail in metric tonnes (its 2017 report labels them "U.S. metric tons"), and ACI uses the same total with a slightly different growth rate. The FAA's landed weight is the weight of all-cargo aircraft landing, in pounds, and leaves out cargo carried on passenger flights. The BTS counts freight and mail on US flights only, in pounds, so it leaves out most international cargo. The four measures are not compared. CDA does not name the source of the trade value.

How punctual are flights at O'Hare?

O'Hare's on-time record has worsened since 2021 on BTS figures, and a larger share of flights was cancelled in the latest 12 months than in 2024 or 2025.

View data table

Share of domestic flights arriving at O'Hare within 15 minutes of schedule, from the BTS. The last column covers September 2025 to August 2026.

Period	Value
2021	82%
2022	79%
2023	79%
2024	78%
2025	73%
2025-26	71%

• Domestic on-time arrivals at O'Hare were 82% in 2021, 79% in 2022 and 2023, 78% in 2024 and 73% in 2025, and 71% from September 2025 to August 2026, 25th among major US airports. (BTS (TranStats O'Hare arrivals), Nov 2026)
• On-time departures were 81% in 2021, 78% in 2022, 79% in 2023, 77% in 2024 and 73% in 2025; O'Hare ranked 24th for departures in the latest 12 months. (BTS (TranStats O'Hare departures), Nov 2026)
• Cancellations were 1.93% of domestic flights in 2021, 2.75% in 2022 and 1.22% in 2023. (BTS (TranStats O'Hare cancellations), Nov 2026)
• Delayed arrivals averaged 91.14 minutes late from September 2025 to August 2026, against 83.49 minutes in 2025. (BTS (TranStats O'Hare delay minutes), Nov 2026)
• BTS reporting airlines flew 241.0 thousand domestic flights at O'Hare in 2021, 280.1 thousand in 2024, 327.0 thousand in 2025 and 363.0 thousand from September 2025 to August 2026. (BTS (TranStats O'Hare reporting flights), Nov 2026)
• 34.54% of departures by major US airlines at O'Hare were delayed by 15 minutes or more in July 2025 and 34.41% in December 2025, against 26.45% nationally that December; April 2025 had 17.81%. (BTS (TranStats O'Hare monthly delays 2025), Nov 2026)
• In 2026, 28.40% of departures were delayed in January, 29.24% in March and 26.99% in July. (BTS (TranStats O'Hare monthly delays 2026), Nov 2026)
• In August 2026, 31.20% of O'Hare departures were delayed against 26.24% nationally, and the average delay was 91.88 minutes against 78.23. (BTS (TranStats O'Hare August 2026 delays), Nov 2026)
• CDA says rebuilding O'Hare's crossing runways into a parallel layout under the O'Hare Modernization Program contributed to a 67% reduction in delays across the national airspace system caused by O'Hare. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: airfield), Oct 2026)

BTS figures cover domestic flights by the US airlines that report on-time data; a flight is on time within 15 minutes of schedule. The BTS page defines only its latest column (September 2025 to August 2026); the earlier columns are shown under year headings. Ranks are among major US airports only. CDA does not give the period behind its 67% figure.

How many people and guns does TSA screen at O'Hare?

TSA screens tens of millions of departing passengers and crew at O'Hare each year, and finds dozens of guns in carry-on bags at its checkpoints.

View data table

Firearms found by TSA at O'Hare security checkpoints each year. Each year comes from the release for that year; the link is to the latest one.

Period	Value
2018	48
2019	50
2020	33
2021	91
2022	85
2023	72
2024	78

• TSA found 78 handguns at O'Hare checkpoints in 2024, a rate of 2.6 per million passengers screened, or one for every 389,156 travellers. (TSA (Chicago firearms 2024), Jan 2025)
• TSA screened nearly 30.4 million departing passengers and crew at O'Hare in 2024, the fourth-busiest US airport for checkpoint screening. (TSA (Chicago firearms 2024), Jan 2025)
• In 2023 TSA screened nearly 28.5 million at O'Hare, the third-busiest US airport for screening, and stopped 72 handguns, 2.5 per million. (TSA (Chicago firearms 2023), Jan 2024)
• TSA stopped 85 handguns at O'Hare in 2022, 3.3 per million passengers screened, and 91 in 2021. (TSA (Chicago firearms 2022), Jan 2023)
• TSA found 33 firearms at O'Hare in 2020, 50 in 2019 and 48 in 2018. (TSA (Chicago firearms 2022 table), Jan 2023)
• The Chicago Fire Department keeps four rescue stations at O'Hare, staffed 24 hours a day, and CDA's Safety and Security Division has more than 450 staff across O'Hare and Midway. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: safety), Oct 2026)

TSA screening counts are departing passengers and crew checked at security; connecting passengers who stay airside are not screened again, so these totals are below the FAA's enplanements and are not compared with them. TSA had not published a 2025 Chicago firearms release when this page was reviewed.

How big is O'Hare, and how do people get there?

O'Hare is a large airfield whose crossing runways were rebuilt into a parallel layout, the newest opened in 2020. Passengers can reach it on the CTA Blue Line, and a new tollway link on its west side is due by the end of 2027.

1. 1 10L/28R 13,000 ft
2. 2 9R/27L 11,260 ft
3. 3 9C/27C 11,245 ft
4. 4 10C/28C 10,800 ft
5. 5 4R/22L 8,075 ft
6. 6 4L/22R 7,500 ft
7. 7 9L/27R 7,500 ft
8. 8 10R/28L 7,500 ft

• The O'Hare complex covers over 7,200 acres inside the City of Chicago and straddles Cook and DuPage counties. (Chicago Department of Aviation (facility data page), Nov 2026)
• O'Hare has eight active runways; the longest is 10L/28R at 13,000 feet, and the newest, 9C/27C, opened in 2020 at 11,245 by 200 feet. (Chicago Department of Aviation (facility data: runways), Nov 2026)
• Runway 9R/27L dates from 1943 and was extended by 3,293 feet in 2021; runways 18/36, 14L/32R and 14R/32L closed in 2008, 2016 and 2018. (Chicago Department of Aviation (facility data: runway history), Nov 2026)
• O'Hare had 23,582 parking spaces as of January 2025. (Chicago Department of Aviation (facility data: parking), Jan 2025)
• As of January 2026 O'Hare had 149 food and drink outlets, 87 shops, duty free and service outlets and 151 automated retail and vending points, with 206,296 square feet of concessions in all. (Chicago Department of Aviation (facility data: concessions), Jan 2026)
• The 2.5 million square foot Multi-Modal Facility houses all of O'Hare's rental car companies, with over 2,600 parking spaces and 24 electric vehicle charging stations. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: facilities), Oct 2026)
• More than 155 Travelers Aid volunteers at O'Hare's information desks helped over 1 million passengers in 2025. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: passenger services), Oct 2026)
• The Illinois Tollway's I-490/IL 390 interchange, giving direct access to the west side of O'Hare, is a $536 million project with three miles of road, 16 ramps and 15 bridges, due for completion by the end of 2027. (Illinois Tollway (I-490/IL 390 fact sheet), 2026)

Facility figures are from CDA's facts and figures page, each with its own as-of date. CDA's gate counts are left out because its facility page (April 2026) and its 2026 gate reallocation (October 2026) use different bases. The tollway project is the Illinois Tollway's plan and budget.

What is O'Hare worth to Chicago's economy?

CDA counts tens of thousands of jobs at O'Hare, and says Chicago's airports pay their own way without City tax money. Parking and concessions are large businesses in their own right.

1. 1 O'Hare $126.7m
2. 2 Midway $35.7m

• O'Hare and Midway generate about $70 billion of economic impact a year, CDA says. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: economy), Oct 2026)
• CDA counts more than 47,000 jobs at O'Hare and nearly 8,000 at Midway. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: jobs), Oct 2026)
• Parking at O'Hare earned $126.7 million in 2025, record-breaking revenue in CDA's words, against $35.7 million at Midway. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: parking), Oct 2026)
• O'Hare and Midway together have over 250 concession outlets, 85 shops and 145 food and drink outlets, covering over 200,000 square feet, with $700 million in combined concessions revenue and over 2,000 staff; O'Hare alone has 8 Starbucks and 8 McDonald's. (Chicago Department of Aviation (Concessions 101, May 2026), May 2026)
• CDA runs a $1.2 billion annual operating budget for O'Hare and Midway, which are self-sustaining enterprise funds. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2025 Legislative Guide: budget), Oct 2025)
• In 2024 O'Hare and Midway together handled more than 101.5 million passengers, almost 1 million aircraft operations and over 2.0 million metric tonnes of cargo; CDA has over 3,000 employees. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2025 Legislative Guide: system), Oct 2025)
• O'Hare's airline use and lease agreement runs to 31 December 2033 and approved about $8.5 billion of capital projects in 2018 dollars; O'Hare and Midway use no City tax revenue. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: finance), Oct 2026)

The economic impact and concessions figures cover O'Hare and Midway together, and CDA does not name the study behind its impact figure. Concessions revenue is not defined and may be outlets' sales, not CDA income. Regional job totals are left out because CDA's 2025 and 2026 reports give different figures without naming the study.

What is being built at O'Hare, and how is it paid for?

O'Hare is in the middle of ORDNext, a rebuilding of its terminal core that runs into the mid-2030s. Concourse D is under construction, Concourse E follows, and the City sold bonds in 2026 to pay for it.

• Series 2026B $1.29bn
• Series 2026C $293.2m
• Series 2026D $226.4m

• Under CDA's August 2026 timetable, the first 14 gates of the New Concourse E open in 2030, the O'Hare Global Terminal in 2033 and the last 10 Concourse E gates in 2034, with the tunnel in 2035; ORDNext will give O'Hare 16% more gate frontage. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: ORDNext), Oct 2026)
• The O'Hare Global Terminal, replacing Terminal 2, will cover more than 1.6 million square feet, and the finished New Concourse E about 460,000 square feet. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: ORDNext), Oct 2026)
• Building on the New Concourse D began in April 2026: it will have 19 gates for narrow-body aircraft, 18 of which can become nine wide-body gates, in a 73-foot-tall building; about 35% of the foundations were done, with completion due in late 2028. (Chicago Department of Aviation (Concourse D construction release), Apr 2026)
• The first phase of the New Concourse E is a 14-gate building of about 323,000 square feet, plus a 96,000 square foot fit-out of the tunnel between Concourse D and the future Global Terminal. (Chicago Department of Aviation (Concourse E bid notice), Sep 2026)
• The City planned to break ground on Concourse E's first phase in 2026, with Global Terminal construction starting in 2029. (Chicago Department of Aviation (Concourse E release, Aug 2026), Aug 2026)
• A $250 million central cooling plant for ORDNext is due in 2028 and will pump chilled water through 8,600 feet of pipes to Concourses D and E and the Global Terminal. (Chicago Department of Aviation (ORDNext progress release), Oct 2026)
• The ElevateT3 rebuilding of Terminal 3 has a $300 million budget and is due in the third quarter of 2027, backed by $90 million of federal Airport Terminal Program grants. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: Terminal 3), Oct 2026)
• In August 2026 Gates K1 and L2A reopened with larger waiting areas, and baggage carousels 30 to 33 opened. (Chicago Department of Aviation (Terminal 3 gates release), Aug 2026)
• The FAA awarded O'Hare $50,000,000 from its FY2023 Airport Terminal Program towards rebuilding the 60-year-old Terminal 3. (FAA (FY2023 Airport Terminal Program), Feb 2023)
• The $1.3 billion Terminal 5 expansion was O'Hare's largest terminal project since 1993, CDA says; its new garage added about 1,700 parking spaces, and a three-gate expansion of Concourse L added about 11,000 square feet of concourse. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: completed projects), Oct 2026)
• In September 2026 the City sold $1.81 billion of O'Hare senior lien bonds in three series, rated A+ by Fitch, KBRA and S&P; its February 2026 Series 2026A funded about $452.8 million of capital projects. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: bonds), Oct 2026)
• KBRA rated the new bonds A+ with a stable outlook and affirmed A+ on about $11.4 billion of existing O'Hare senior lien bonds; it projects debt peaking at $20.1 billion in FY2032, with about 55% of ORDNext still to be funded. (KBRA (O'Hare bond rating, Aug 2026), Aug 2026)

ORDNext dates, sizes and the cooling plant are CDA plans as of the dates shown, and CDA re-phased the programme in August 2026. CDA has given several different totals for the ORDNext budget and for Concourse D's cost and floor area, so none of them is used here. KBRA's debt peak is its own projection.

How many noise complaints does O'Hare get?

CDA logs hundreds of thousands of noise complaints about O'Hare each year, and a few households file a large share of them. Chicago's airports have spent heavily on sound insulation for homes and schools.

View data table

Aircraft noise complaints about O'Hare each year, in thousands, from CDA's December 2025 noise report. 2019 is left out because complaints for January and February 2019 are not included, after a software change.

Period	Value
2020	245.7k
2021	304.6k
2022	316.8k
2023	300.7k
2024	339.1k
2025	357.9k

• CDA logged 298,190 complaints from March to December 2019, 245,711 in 2020, 304,558 in 2021, 316,842 in 2022, 300,699 in 2023 and 339,060 in 2024. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2025 noise complaints table), Dec 2025)
• In December 2025, 25,975 complaints came from 148 households; 48 Chicago households filed 10,177 of them, and 99.0% came through the website. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2025 noise complaints table), Dec 2025)
• January 2026 had 24,484 complaints from 153 households. (Chicago Department of Aviation (January 2026 noise report), Jan 2026)
• February 2026 had 27,386 complaints from 161 households. (Chicago Department of Aviation (February 2026 noise report), Feb 2026)
• April 2026 had 43,229 complaints from 239 households, after 34,777 from 234 in March; six households in Elgin filed 12,790 and 29 in Chicago's Ward 41 filed 11,929. (Chicago Department of Aviation (April 2026 noise report), Apr 2026)
• June 2026 had 40,055 complaints from 371 households, after 41,871 from 314 in May. (Chicago Department of Aviation (June 2026 noise report), Jun 2026)
• August 2026 had 48,334 complaints from 290 households, after 43,160 from 295 in July. (Chicago Department of Aviation (August 2026 noise report), Aug 2026)
• CDA's noise system uses 43 noise monitors around O'Hare and records over 150,000 flights and 400,000 noise events each month. (Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2025 noise monitoring), Dec 2025)
• In 2025 O'Hare averaged 256 operations a night between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.; Fly Quiet mode lasted 7 hours and 1 minute on average, with 118 operations. (Chicago Department of Aviation (Fly Quiet 2025 annual report), 2025)
• In the fourth quarter of 2025 O'Hare averaged 266 operations a night, with Fly Quiet mode averaging 6 hours 48 minutes and 116 operations. (Chicago Department of Aviation (Fly Quiet Q4 2025 report), 2025)
• In the second quarter of 2026 the night average rose to 360 operations, and Fly Quiet mode averaged 5 hours 48 minutes with 108 operations. (Chicago Department of Aviation (Fly Quiet Q2 2026 report), 2026)
• In Fly Quiet mode in 2025, American flew 2,465 departures, 22% of them straying more than 0.5 nautical miles from the preferred track, United 1,632 (15%), Delta 490 (27%) and Frontier 377 (36%). (Chicago Department of Aviation (Fly Quiet 2025 flight tracks), 2025)
• Over $1 billion has gone into sound insulation around Chicago's airports: more than 22,200 homes for $615 million and 165 schools for $457 million; the O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission has 43 member communities and 18 school districts. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: noise), Oct 2026)
• More than 12,000 homes and 124 schools near O'Hare have been sound insulated. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2025 Legislative Guide: noise), Oct 2025)
• O'Hare's electricity use is 17.3% and its natural gas use 14.5% below 2010; more than 10 acres of green roofs sit on 18 buildings at O'Hare and Midway, and 11 airport buildings are LEED certified. (Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: environment), Oct 2026)

CDA counts complaints made in Illinois by phone, online or the CHI 311 app from households with a verifiable address. It counts complaints, not people, and complaints for January and February 2019 are not included because of a software change. Night is 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. The sound insulation totals in the 2026 Annual Report cover O'Hare and Midway; the Legislative Guide figures cover O'Hare only.

Methodology and sources

Figures come from the Chicago Department of Aviation's air traffic reports from 2012 to 2026, its 2026 Annual Report, 2025 Legislative Guide, facility page, press releases, noise and Fly Quiet reports and concessions presentation, and from ACI World, ACI-NA, the FAA, the BTS, TSA, NTTO, CBP, OAG, the CTA, the Illinois Tollway, KBRA, United Airlines and American Airlines. Each figure links to the document that produced it, with the date. CDA's total passengers are the main series; FAA enplanements, BTS passengers, TSA screenings and NTTO international passengers are given only with their own labels and are not compared with it or with each other. CDA and ACI cargo in metric tonnes, FAA landed weight and BTS freight in pounds are kept apart, as are CDA operations and BTS flight counts. Where CDA revised a month, the newest edition is used, and months whose revised value was not published are left out. Forecasts and plans are labelled with who made them and when. The page is reviewed monthly and the date is shown at the top.

• ACI World (2025 cargo ranking) · Jul 2026
• ACI-NA (2025 cargo ranking) · Jul 2026
• American Airlines (Chicago spring 2026 release) · Dec 2025
• American Airlines (summer 2026 outlook) · May 2026
• American Airlines (Tokyo Narita release) · Jul 2026
• BTS (TranStats O'Hare arrivals) · Nov 2026
• CBP (Chicago arrivals processing, May 2025) · May 2025
• Chicago Department of Aviation (2025 Legislative Guide: noise) · Oct 2025
• Chicago Department of Aviation (2026 Annual Report: environment) · Oct 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (70 years release) · Oct 2025
• Chicago Department of Aviation (April 2025 air traffic data) · Jun 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (April 2026 air traffic data) · Apr 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (April 2026 noise report) · Apr 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (August 2026 cargo data) · Oct 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (August 2026 noise report) · Aug 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (Concessions 101, May 2026) · May 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (Concourse D construction release) · Apr 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (Concourse E bid notice) · Sep 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (Concourse E release, Aug 2026) · Aug 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2012 operations data) · Apr 2015
• Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2013 air traffic data) · Jun 2014
• Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2014 air traffic data) · May 2015
• Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2015 international data) · Feb 2016
• Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2016 air traffic data) · Mar 2017
• Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2017 cargo data) · Mar 2019
• Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2018 operations data) · Apr 2019
• Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2019 cargo data) · Apr 2020
• Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2020 cargo data) · Mar 2021
• Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2022 cargo data) · Mar 2023
• Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2023 cargo data) · Mar 2024
• Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2024 cargo data) · Mar 2025
• Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2025 cargo data) · Apr 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (December 2025 noise complaints table) · Dec 2025
• Chicago Department of Aviation (facility data: runways) · Nov 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (February 2026 air traffic data) · Feb 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (February 2026 noise report) · Feb 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (Fly Quiet 2025 flight tracks) · 2025
• Chicago Department of Aviation (Fly Quiet Q2 2026 report) · 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (Fly Quiet Q4 2025 report) · 2025
• Chicago Department of Aviation (Fourth of July 2026 release) · Jul 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (holiday 2025 release) · Dec 2025
• Chicago Department of Aviation (January 2025 air traffic data) · Jan 2025
• Chicago Department of Aviation (January 2026 air traffic data) · Jan 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (January 2026 noise report) · Jan 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (July 2025 traffic release) · Sep 2025
• Chicago Department of Aviation (July 2026 air traffic data) · Sep 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (June 2026 air traffic data) · Aug 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (June 2026 noise report) · Jun 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (Labor Day 2026 release) · Sep 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (March 2026 air traffic data) · Mar 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (May 2026 air traffic data) · May 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (Memorial Day 2026 release) · May 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (new routes 2026 release) · Nov 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (November 2025 air traffic data) · Jan 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (OAG ranking release) · Sep 2025
• Chicago Department of Aviation (ORDNext progress release) · Oct 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (spring break 2026 release) · Mar 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (summer 2025 release) · Oct 2025
• Chicago Department of Aviation (summer 2026 release) · Oct 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (Terminal 3 gates release) · Aug 2026
• Chicago Department of Aviation (Thanksgiving 2025 release) · Nov 2025
• Chicago Department of Aviation (US busiest airfield release) · Jan 2026
• CTA (August 2026 ridership report) · Sep 2026
• CTA (December 2025 ridership report) · Mar 2026
• FAA (CY2015 enplanements) · 2015
• FAA (CY2018 enplanements) · 2018
• FAA (CY2019 enplanements) · Sep 2020
• FAA (CY2020 enplanements) · Nov 2021
• FAA (CY2021 enplanements) · Sep 2022
• FAA (CY2022 enplanements) · 2023
• FAA (CY2023 enplanements) · Oct 2024
• FAA (CY2024 all-cargo landed weight) · Sep 2025
• FAA (CY2024 enplanements) · Sep 2025
• FAA (CY2025 all-cargo landed weight) · Sep 2026
• FAA (CY2025 enplanements) · Sep 2026
• FAA (FY2023 Airport Terminal Program) · Feb 2023
• FAA (O'Hare Terminal Area Plan forecast) · Nov 2022
• Illinois Tollway (I-490/IL 390 fact sheet) · 2026
• KBRA (O'Hare bond rating, Aug 2026) · Aug 2026
• NTTO (international air passengers, Aug 2025) · Aug 2025
• NTTO (international air passengers, Jul 2026) · Jul 2026
• OAG (Megahubs 2026 US domestic index) · Sep 2026
• TSA (Chicago firearms 2022 table) · Jan 2023
• TSA (Chicago firearms 2023) · Jan 2024
• TSA (Chicago firearms 2024) · Jan 2025
• TSA (O'Hare single-day record, Jun 2025) · Jun 2025
• United Airlines (new destinations release) · Oct 2025
• United Airlines (O'Hare summer 2026 release) · Jan 2026
• United Airlines (Tokyo Narita release) · May 2026