MilesBuzz! - O'Hare again the Worlds Busiest Airport!

The Bears lost, but I just saw some text cross the CNN screen that said O'Hare has passed up Hartsfield as the world's busiest airport to regain the title. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I guess Delta is hurting a lot more than UA and AA.

Actually, I think it has a lot to do with Chicago's Mayor Daley focus on keeping O'Hare safe, improving lines for general travelers and encouraging people to fly. In terms of flight volume impact, it is my understanding the UA has been hardest hit, for 9.11 and many other reasons & AA has had its challenges too, so I am surprised to say the least. It really speaks to all that Daley has done.

Please also see the earlier thread at:

O'Hare Regains 'Busiest Airport' Title From Atlanta

01-18-2002 05:07 AM

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum109/HTML/003619.html

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by stimpy:
I guess Delta is hurting a lot more than UA and AA.</font>


My, what a Chicago-centric post! I don't think DL has the labor problems of UA, the load factor problems of UA (last I heard UA needed 96% LF to break even), and DL doesn't fly any A300's with loose tails.

Hurting? I think DL was smarter than either of these 2. It's only short term. As soon as UA's mechanics are allowed to strike and kill the airline, the title will swing back to ATL. And I'll continue to avoid both airports!



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Bad Gordon!

No Freddie for you!

I thought only Atlanta politicians bragged about such a dubious honor.

As an Atlanta, it irks me that the city owns land for a badly needed second airport but won't build one (I'm sure the politicians don't want to offend their good friend Delta).

I recently visited Munich. There, they brag that the longest distance from the front door to your gate is something like 35 meters! Now that is something to brag about.

I have a key vendor in the Atlanta area and I just don't like going there. There's no good way to get from ATL to Duluth, GA where the vendor is.

Oh for a north suburban Atlanta airport!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by LemonThrower:
I thought only Atlanta politicians bragged about such a dubious honor.

I recently visited Munich. There, they brag that the longest distance from the front door to your gate is something like 35 meters! Now that is something to brag about.</font>


Not that Munich isn't a nice airport, but maybe this is true if someone drops you off in front of the airport at just the right place, but ride the train and you may end up walking about more like 500 meters. Plus, the Munich airport is rather far outside the city, a 50 minute train ride.

I took the Lufthansa bus from the train station to the airport for about $6--passengers of any airline can ride it--and it dropped me off at the correct gate. I understand a taxi costs $60-100!


Munich's airport does seem distant since there is less urban sprawl but is not much further out of town than Atlanta' airport. I just wish Atlanta would get a second airport already.

The Lufthansa bus is indeed a great deal vis-a-viz taxis, the S-Bahn (yuck!), etc. But I thought it was more like $10 or $11 each way???

I could be wrong about the price. A friend bought the tickets for me.

You can also take the S-bahn more cheaply but I had a lot of luggage.

The broader question is whether Daley will be able to win state support & local community support to expand O'Hare as he has proposed. Chicago grew from swamp to great city serving as a gateway between river & lake, east & west, and finished product & raw material. O'Hare is a part of that tradition and not being able to meet the demands of growth will hurt Chicago and the nation as a whole. For this reason, I sent the response card's to the expansion plans at ORD in and hope others follow suit.

What ever happened to Daly's grand plan for a southside airport, near the Indiana border?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by essxjay:
The Lufthansa bus is indeed a great deal vis-a-viz taxis, the S-Bahn (yuck!), etc. But I thought it was more like $10 or $11 each way???</font>

Why is the S-Bahn bad? Unless you have a really large amount of luggage, I've found it to be rather nice. The trains that go the airport (S1 and S8) seem to always be the brand new trains which are fast, clean, and super quiet.

I thought the S-bahn was superior to the metros in London, Paris, DC, and Prague.

Very clean and efficient.

clean and simple, yes. but that ride can take forever. and god forbid you do the bus to the train route.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by stimpy:
What ever happened to Daly's grand plan for a southside airport, near the Indiana border?</font>

It is still being talked about but it is being rallied against by airports that provide service to ORD from central IL like CMI,BMI,PIA,SPI...

I hope they expand ORD and not try to build another airport, we already have one of those called Midway...the jet wash almost flips cars on the road over since they have to head vertical due to thier airspace restrictions...

BTW the new proposed airport would be in Petone (SP) which is south of Joliet...so it is closer to Indiana but south of the city...I don't think anyone would fly there over O'hare or Midway because it would take a while to get to the Loop...time will tell

Waiting forever in customs, having to take a train, shuttle or bus, or whatever it was, from the international arrivals area, then having to walk a mile just to go through security again, all in order to make my domestic connection, made me well aware of how busy ORD has become.

Next, to accommodate all that traffic, they'll be putting international arrivals in St. Louis.