What's the nation's fastest growing airport. It rhymes with "hare"

Why is our airport so busy? Because Chicago is an awesome place to visit!

Just kidding, O'hare is a superbly located hub for flights going elsewhere. Meaning places without the high crime, high taxes, bad gov regulation and blah blah blah.

BTW, the way many believe the airport was named after Butch O'Hare a famous naval aviator from WWII. That's untrue. It's named for a rabbit.

Chicago weighs overhaul of O'Hare expansion plan amid soaring traffic

Justin Kaufmann, Axios News

Dec 4, 2025

O'Hare International Airport is hitting record traffic levels, triggering the city to reevaluate its ongoing renovation project.

The big picture: A new report published by the Chaddick Institute at DePaul University points out that O'Hare had the most growth of any U.S. airport in 2024.

It could see up to 30% more passenger traffic by 2033, which the report says would be difficult to accommodate following the current renovation timeline.

Why it matters: The city is listening. Planners want to reshuffle the terminal construction timeline, deprioritizing the renovation of Terminal 2 to become the new global terminal.

The report suggests the city can't afford to focus on the sleek new terminal, designed by renowned architect Jeanne Gang, because it will offer fewer gates than before.

Instead, the city wants to focus on the two satellite concourses, which would be finished by 2029, and focus on the global terminal last.

Between the lines: O'Hare is already one of the busiest airports in the country, generating $38 billion in economic impact for the city, but it ranks low in customer satisfaction.

Context: The city and the airport's two major airlines struck a deal earlier this year to finance renovations through 2033 after several delays due to pandemic-related costs. The project was originally supposed to be completed by 2026.

What they're saying: "O'Hare has suddenly become the country's hottest airport in terms of traffic growth, and this creates new challenges for terminal expansion," DePaul professor and report co-author Joe Schwieterman tells Axios.

"So much has changed since the current plan for terminal construction was hatched."

By the numbers: The report suggests the traffic increases are a good thing for the airport after a post-pandemic lull. There has been record growth at the airport in 2025, including a 5.1% increase in passenger traffic.

Yes, but: As passenger traffic expanded, so did the airlines' use of the airport. United and American Airlines flights out of O'Hare are up almost 19% since 2023.

The airport averaged 5.9 departures per gate in August, the highest among U.S. hub airports.

Zoom in: This growth was made possible by the city's O'Hare 21 terminal project, which has already finished a handful of new gates.

The bottom line: "This is a good problem for the city to have — surging demand for gate and terminal space at O'Hare," Schwieterman said.