Keep in mind that Chicago/Illinois government could decide that ORD becoming a megahub for one airline (which is never good for keeping fares low for O/D passengers) is a bad thing, and change the gate allocation scheme. I wouldn’t be surprised if AA is already having conversations behind the scenes to raise this issue.

If I’m an elected official in those meetings, the value of having two large airlines in my city/state (and the resulting competitiveness on fares and service) would be clear. I would want a commitment from AA though that they will commit to ORD and bring back some of the dropped service (especially on long-haul routes).