O’Hare Airport Battle as United Airlines and American Fight for Chicago Supremacy

by Krish Patel

Chicago O’Hare Airport is a significant hub for two of the largest airlines in the U.S., those being United Airlines and American Airlines. 

ORD is United’s largest hub and also one of the few major airports in the U.S. where there are two major airlines connecting many passengers each day. Chicago-based United Airlines wants its passengers to know that they’re O’Hare’s main airline. The Star Alliance carrier runs nearly 50% of the airport’s total flights. 

In a social media post that wasn’t published too long ago, United published a campaign that is meant to convince travelers to choose them over American or Southwest, which has a significant hub at Chicago’s Midway Airport. United shows that it has more lounges, international destinations, and better Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity inflight. 

United Airlines Instagram

In response to United’s post, American Airlines published their own campaign to convince travelers to choose them instead. However, American isn’t calling out any specific airline in their campaign.

American Airlines Instagram

United Airlines has been granted six additional gates at ORD from the city of Chicago, however, the lease will be finalized on June 1, 2025. American Airlines isn’t happy that United has been given additional gates and is suing Chicago as a result. The Dallas/Fort Worth-based airline argues that the plan to hand over extra gates to archrival United is to reduce AA’s presence at O’Hare. 

American Airlines is working to increase their operations in Chicago and plans to launch 7 new routes from the city later this year. They’re also launching more premium aircraft on routes from O’Hare. Soon, American will start flying its premium wide bodies with Flagship Suites from Chicago to London. Despite the OneWorld carrier’s work in increasing Chicago operations, United still has more flights from ORD.

Airlines frequently compete at airports for passengers and flights, something very common in the U.S. Travelers based in Chicago have many choices for airlines, so American and United are both fighting for supremacy to attract as many passengers as possible.