Chicago O'Hare Airport
Chicago is one of the most popular, busiest and important cities in America and just like other such important cities, it also has two international and quite a few domestic airports. If you have to know about the airports of Chicago, then it’s better to gather information about both of them. One of the airports is known as Chicago O’Hare International and the other one is known as Midway International. Both are very important and among some of the busiest in all America. On this website you will get information on both of these airports.
O’Hare Airport
O’Hare is situated 17 miles northwest of the Chicago loop and is the primary airport that serves the Chicago area. Before 2005, O’Hare used to be the busiest in the world, because of the number of landings and takeoffs of flights in a year. Before 1998 O’Hare was the busiest airport because of the number of passengers. It lost its status because the Federal Government decided to limit Chicago airport, in order to reduce the incidents of flight delays. Now it is the fourth busiest in the United States. O’Hare was constructed during 1942-43 as a manufacturing unit of Douglas C-54s, the famous air crafts used in World War II.
In 1945 the contract with Douglas ended and from 1949 the place was rechristened as Chicago Airport O’Hare. From then onwards, it is serving the people of the Chicago area and also that of the North America. With time, things have changed in Chicago Airport. It has been reconstructed, developed and improved. There are total 4 terminals in O’Hare, among them only terminal 5 is associated with international flights exclusively. The other terminals deal with all types of flights. There are different concourses that deal with the pressure of the passengers.
Almost all the international airlines operate Chicago Airport O'Hare. Some of the most important airlines are Aer Lingus, Aeromexico, Air Canada, Air Fnance, Air India, Alaska Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Frontier Airlines, Asiana Airlines, British Airways and many more. From the names of the airlines, it is quite clear that official airlines of almost all the countries are connected with O’Hare, Chicago.
Midway Airport
Midway International Airport is situated about 8 miles southwest to the Chicago loop and it is the other most important airport of the area. It is attached to the city through Stevenson Expressway and Transit Authority’s Orange Line. At the time of its initiation in 1923, Midway was known as Chicago Air Park. From then onwards, Chicago airport has gone through many developments and changes and gradually gained the popularity and importance it has today. Midway is known to be operated and dominated by the low cost air carriers and services. In 1967, Midway was renovated and three new concourses, 28 gates and three new ticket counters were added to the premises. After that also, many changes and additions happened to Midway.
In 2009 a bill was proposed to privatize Chicago Airport Midway, but due to lack of funds the proposal remained unfulfilled. Instead of the terminals there are only concourses in Midway. There are total three concourses, A, B and C. These concourses are comprised of 17, 23 and 3 gates respectively. All the international flights are handled in concourse A. Some of the important airlines that operate in Midway are, AirTran Airways, Delta Airlines, Delta Connection, Frontier Airlines, Porter Airlines and many more.
If you go through the history and performance of Chicago Airport Midway, it will become clear that despite being nearer to Chicago loop, Midway has never attained the importance and popularity of O’Hare. Though the scenario is changing gradually, but Midway still has a long way to go. So, if you are to visit Chicago in the recent future, this information about the airports will prove to be handy and beneficial.