WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy and the Federal Aviation Administration have announced a new action to prevent widespread flight delays this summer at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, or ORD.
The FAA's action - known as a scheduling reduction - limits daily operations to 2,708 flights to prevent a dramatic increase from last summer's peak daily schedule.
It follows a series of meetings the FAA organized with airline and ORD representatives to address over-scheduling.
The limitations will be in effect from May 17 to October 24, the Department of Transportation said. The FAA order allocates operations among airlines based on their approved summer 2025 schedules.
ORD is the busiest airport in the United States by flight volume, with more than 3,080 flights planned on peak days for summer 2026, which represents a 14.9 percent peak-day increase over summer 2025. Less than 60 percent of arrivals and departures at O'Hare International Airport were on time last summer.
'If you book a ticket, we want you and your family to have the certainty that you'll fly without endless delays and cancellations,' said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy. '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.'
'Our number one priority is the safety of the flying public, and that means ensuring airline schedules reflect what the system can safely handle,' said FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford.
The FAA said it is taking additional decisive steps to improve safety and efficiency at and around ORD, including bringing in more air traffic controllers and improving the speed of controller training, optimizing 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.
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