O'Hare reclaims title as world's busiest airport amid federal scrutiny over packed flight schedules

O’Hare International Airport surged back to earn the title of busiest airfield in the world for 2025, Chicago officials announced Tuesday.

The last time O’Hare held the crown was in 2019, but a new parallel runway system helped propel it to No. 1 last year, with 860,015 departures and arrivals.

The honor comes as the airport faces federal scrutiny for an ambitious 2026 summer flight schedule.

“This milestone is both a point of pride and a call to action,” Chicago Department of Aviation Commissioner Michael McMurray said in a statement.

“O’Hare’s airfield leads the world in capacity, and now we must ensure our terminals, technology, and passenger experience rise to meet that standard,” he added. “Continued investment is not optional — it is essential to maintaining Chicago’s global competitiveness.”

Flights at O’Hare grew by 10.8% over 2024, which allowed it to surpass rival Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Atlanta, however, kept its title as busiest airport for passengers.

O’Hare offers service to nearly 280 destinations this year, and will be adding 43 gates as new concourses open up and a massive Global Terminal is built to replace Terminal 2.

The Federal Aviation Administration stepped in this winter to trim summer operations at O’Hare, concerned that added flights along with concourse construction would “stress the runway, terminal, and air traffic control systems at the airport.”

The agency has proposed scaling back to 2,608 daily flights. In comparison, O’Hare topped out at 2,680 flights a day in summer 2025 and the CDA had planned for about 3,080 operations this summer on peak days.

The increase was triggered by competitors American and United airlines piling on flights for the upcoming summer vacation season.

Meanwhile, U.S. Sens. Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates and Dick Durbin of Springfield urged FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford to provide more resources to O’Hare in a phone conversation Tuesday.

O’Hare is “critical to our country’s aviation system,” Duckworth said in a statement.

“Any flight reductions the FAA and U.S. Department of Transportation decide upon must be fair, justified and have a clear end date. The FAA and U.S. DOT must also prioritize O’Hare for federal grants, air traffic controller staffing and modernization upgrades,” she said.