United Airlines slims flights at O’Hare this summer following FAA ruling

United Airlines will cut its flight schedule at O’Hare International Airport by about 130 daily departures this June in response to a Federal Aviation Administration mandate, officials announced.

The FAA in April ordered summer flight reductions at O’Hare to prevent delays at the nation’s busiest airport amid a major construction project and a United and American Airlines growth spurt.

Updates on the remaining summer months will follow shortly, United’s vice president of O’Hare, Omar Idris, said in a Thursday letter to airport employees.

“We will communicate these changes directly and proactively to customers and continue to prioritize safety, reliability and the elevated experience our customers have come to expect from United,” Idris said.

“Crucially, we’ve preserved the high-quality flight times customers want between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m., with minimal changes to our afternoon peak. Our new summer schedule supports the connectivity needed for our leading global long-haul network.”

The FAA said the scheduling limit would prevent “widespread operational disruption at O’Hare and throughout the National Airspace System” between May 17 and Oct. 24.

Last summer, O’Hare operations topped out at 2,680 flights a day. In comparison, the summer 2026 schedule would have exceeded 3,080 operations on peak days, according to the FAA.

After discussions with carriers, the agency capped flights at 2,708. The FAA cited concerns about disruptions related to the construction of a new concourse on the airfield and a surge of flights by United and American.

Competition between the airlines escalated after United was awarded five more gates by the Chicago Department of Aviation in 2025. American lost four gates but picked up two from Spirit Airlines.

The rivals piled on 2026 summer flights with United planning for 780 daily departures compared to an average of 541 in 2025. Meanwhile, American scheduled 526 departures versus about 480 last year.

Despite the decrease, “those 650 daily departures put us up 11% from 2025, and we will fly 13% more seats year over year by using a larger mix of mainline aircraft,” Idris said.