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O'hare's future?

Question:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> > My personal opinion is that since ORD is just about maxed out, it’s time to > > seriously start thinking about the Peotone(sp?) airport project–which bears > > a striking resemblance to "Airport"’s Lincoln International! (get me > > Patroni!) :) Mike >       I’ve seen the movie, but I don’t get the reference. >       What do you know about Peotone?  Have you seen plans?  I am quite > interested in this project and would like any info or references anyone > has. >       Thanks, >               Stephen > Have not seen any plans, just know what I read in the papers, AW&ST, etc.  I > do suspect that if the powers that be ever get serious about this third > Chicago airport, the NIMBY opposition will be fierce!  No relatively > unpopulated prairie to build it on as was the case with DIA. The "Airport" > reference was merely to note that in the movie (and novel) the fictional > "Lincoln International Airport" was located somewhere south of Chicago, as is > the proposed Peotone site.  Patroni was the name of George Kennedy’s > character (lead mechanic at Lincoln for Trans-Global) who knew how to get a > 707 unstuck from the muck! > Mike > (always wanted to have myself paged at an airport as "D. O. Guerrero!")

I think yer confusing the 707 w/ prezy clinton’s plane that got stuck in Chambana (err champaign)… the 707 in Airport got stuck in snow… :) anyhow, still a good movie! Nate

Response:

>Well Nate, one problem with your plan is that UA at ORD would be a lot closer >to the more desirable (read: richer) north and northwest side local market, >while AA would be closer to the less desirable (read:  poorer) south and >southwest side markets.

        That is very true.  Peotone is a good forty to fifty miles south of the city of Chicago, and at least ten miles beyond any suburbanization.  If some sort of transit were put in from the airport to downtown, it would probably take close to an hour, as would a cab ride.  DIA is urban in comparison!  The problem, however, is not necessarily the distance to the city, but the distance to anything.  There is such a tremendous concentration of offices and jobs that has grown up around O’Hare that south suburban officials think they can recreate it with a third airport.  Problem is, that’s the sector of the city whose "growth" is mainly poor-middle class residential.         The NIMBYism which would result is not the usual, either…this is some of the most productive farmland in the Midwest, and thus probably the country.   The people don’t want the airport not just because of the noise or additional traffic, but because for many of them it will take away their livelihood.

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>    In 31 July’s paper, the RMN, United said they would like to add > 100 flights to their schedule and 12 gates to Concourse B.  The flight > addition would be by 33%, while gate addition would be by 27%, so > presumably both increased gate utilization and construction of new gates > would occur.

Great info, Stephen!  Here’s the article straight from the RMN Online <http://www.insidedenver.com/yourmoney/0731ual1.shtml>.  Didn’t see anything in the Denver Post, though. David — United plans to expand at DIA Airport’s No. 1 carrier hopes to add as many as 100 flights and 12 new gates by 2002 By Richard Williamson Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer United Airlines announced a further expansion of its fleet Thursday, a move likely to fuel rapid growth at Denver International Airport. The dominant carrier at DIA is planning to add as many as 12 gates to its 45-gate Concourse B with a goal of 100 additional flights by 2002. "We’ve already made some interim moves, such as getting more jet bridges on the gates we have," said United spokesman John Philp. "We’ve asked for more Airplanes here because we feel we need to grow to more cities and add more depth to those we already serve." With the estimated $1 billion order for 22 narrowbody A319 and A320 jets from Europe’s Airbus Industrie, United will have 645 planes by 2002, an increase of 74, and nine more than previously announced. The order Thursday followed one of the largest in United’s history for 30 Airbus planes in March and 23 Boeing widebody jets worth up to $3.2 billion. The single-aisle jets ordered Thursday are wider than the more common Boeing 737, with the A319 seating 125 and the A320 holding 150 passengers. "Those planes are perfect for Denver," said aviation consultant Mike Boyd of Evergreen. "They’re exceptionally flexible airplanes." Adding 100 flights to United’s current 303 would bring an additional 7 million passengers to DIA. The airport surpassed Stapleton’s record of nearly 35 million passengers last year and is on pace to beat that record this year. DIA became the nation’s sixth busiest airport in 1997 and rose to 11th busiest in the world. Although gates are available on concourses A and C, moving flights to those concourses would undermine DIA’s advantage as a quick-turnaround airport for United. "I really question why we built a $5 billion airport that was going to have to be expanded when it reached the size of Stapleton," Boyd said. United officials say DIA is unlikely to surpass O’Hare as United’s largest hub, even though 400 daily departures would narrow the gap between the two airports. Although growth is highly restricted at United’s home airport, the carrier would fight for more slots in that market. "O’Hare is just a tremendously inefficient airport," Boyd said. "With O’Hare and DIA, United’s two largest hubs are the most expensive to operate from." Having a major hub here means Denver travelers get more nonstop flights to more cities than a city of its size would normally enjoy, Philp said. "Right now, we fly to about 60 cities from Denver and 30 to 40 of those are nonstops," he said. "Those are the upsides for the business traveler." With more planes, United could fly nonstop to cities such as Pittsburgh, Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C., and add service to Florida, Philp said. Boyd called United’s order for planes from Europe a major blow to Boeing, United’s ancestral parent. United, the world’s largest airline in terms of passenger miles (one passenger flown one mile), operates more than 2,300 flights daily to 99 domestic and 37 international airports. July 31, 1998

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> > A major EXPANSION at Denver?  Geeze….Concourse B is already ’bout a > mile long.

        Concourse B is one Kilometer long (0.625 miles) > I’m not sure if United will be acquiring more gates or if they will > just be increasing the number of flights with the current gates.

        In 31 July’s paper, the RMN, United said they would like to add 100 flights to their schedule and 12 gates to Concourse B.  The flight addition would be by 33%, while gate addition would be by 27%, so presumably both increased gate utilization and construction of new gates would occur.             United has no interest in using gates on the other concourses since their whole deal at DEN is the very fast, convenient connections enabled by having only a single concourse.  Maybe eventually they would expand to other concourses, but for a long time they will rely on adding gates to their home concourse.         The gate numbering system at DIA has always been a bit of a mystery to me.  Some signs read something like, "Gates 44-99 Ahead," but there is not room for 100-gate long concourses.  Concourse B is just shy of the taxiways, so there is room for more, but certainly not more than double.  There are currently 44 gates plus the commuter pad, so even 88 is unreasonable for one concourse.  I don’t know why they include the theoretical gate number 99 on their signage. Cheers,         Stephen

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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> I didn’t follow the previous thread but I thought I read recently that > part of the reason for the slot control at O’Hare was due to noise in > the urban setting.  I also thought that the article went on to say that > they mayor was opening up more slots.  I read a lot so I might not be > remembering correctly… >Last I knew, Sen. McCain of Arizona, chairman of the Senate >Transportation Committee, is pushing through a bill to increase the >slots at ORD by 100 per day. This is part of his bill that is written so >that America West (only) can provide DCA to Arizona non-stop service, >and increases the number of slots at DCA by about 5%.  The bill will >also increase the number of slots at LGA. Since he did all this without >consulting the local authorities in any of the cities involved, there is >at least some resentment.

        I believe that a compromise was reached to open 50 slots at ORD, since both IL senators, both gubernatorial candidates, and Chicago’s mayor, as well as several local mayors, were opposed to the additional traffic (for noise reasons).

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Todd, In case you haven’t been keeping up… United just today ordered a further 22 airbus jets. This will mean by 2001, that they will have a total of 133 a/c. Also, in the press release and in otehr previous ones, UA has stated that they will have 645 a/c by 2001 as compared to the 570 today. That’s an extra 75 a/c (mostly narrowbodies) that can be used to expand the DIA hub. However, what I would also like to see is an expansion at IAD so that UA would have more east coast presence.

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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> United doesn’t have the slots to expand at O’Hare and IMHO they are pretty > much at capacity.  United has already announced they will be making a major > expansion at Denver, so I would expect to see most of United’s new growth > there. > A major EXPANSION at Denver?  Geeze….Concourse B is already ’bout a > mile long.  Or might they take over some of the unused A or C gates? > (The B gates ARE numbered to allow for further expansion, though; the > westmost gate is B15, so presumably they plan to tack on up to 14 more > gates at either end.  For those unfamiliar with the DIA concourses, the > access to the main terminal is via a train which arrives at the center > of the concourse – in this case, between B-37 and B-38.  The EAST end, > though, has the United commuter gates.)

I’m not sure if United will be acquiring more gates or if they will just be increasing the number of flights with the current gates.  The article I read about United’s expansion at DEN was in the Rocky Mountain News on or about March 1, 1998, in the business section. The article explained that United is unable to expand at ORD because of slot restrictions, so they are turning to their hub at DIA/DEN to expand. Regards, Steve

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(snip)  I > would also like to see is an expansion at IAD so that UA would have more east > coast presence.

Me, too! Anyone know why IAD has never developed in a full-fledged hub? Could it be that United has a pretty substantial presence at the other two Washington, DC airports — DCA and BWI? Maybe they want to keep their fingers in all the pots in the Washington area, instead of concentrating on one pot? Michael

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> Todd, > In case you haven’t been keeping up… United just today ordered a further 22 > airbus jets. This will mean by 2001, that they will have a total of 133 a/c. > Also, in the press release and in otehr previous ones, UA has stated that they > will have 645 a/c by 2001 as compared to the 570 today. That’s an extra 75 a/c > (mostly narrowbodies) that can be used to expand the DIA hub. However, what I > would also like to see is an expansion at IAD so that UA would have more east > coast presence.

While an expansion at IAD would probably be nice for the consumer, I tend to believe United is going to do what makes them money.  That being said, I believe the Denver hub has enormous potential. These extra aircraft that are going to increase the fleet size seems on-par with what I have read about the Denver expansion.  There was an interesting article in the Denver Rocky Mountain News on or about March 1, 1998, about UA’s expansion in Denver. Regards, Steve

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> I’m not sure how many other UA cities in this region are like SDF with service > only to ORD, but perhaps by adding some Denver service from these cities they > can free up some capacity at ORD.

        Besides SDF, there are a number of other prominent ORD-but-not-DEN United destinations in the Midwest:         CVG         PIT         Buffalo         Madison         Plus a few in the South:         MEM         Birmingham         Some of these are hubs that UA might not want to fight with (yet), while others should be side open when UA expands in DEN. Cheers,         Stephen

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> United doesn’t have the slots to expand at O’Hare and IMHO they are pretty > much at capacity.  United has already announced they will be making a major > expansion at Denver, so I would expect to see most of United’s new growth > there.

A major EXPANSION at Denver?  Geeze….Concourse B is already ’bout a mile long.  Or might they take over some of the unused A or C gates? (The B gates ARE numbered to allow for further expansion, though; the westmost gate is B15, so presumably they plan to tack on up to 14 more gates at either end.  For those unfamiliar with the DIA concourses, the access to the main terminal is via a train which arrives at the center of the concourse – in this case, between B-37 and B-38.  The EAST end, though, has the United commuter gates.) Bob Myers  KC0EW  Hewlett-Packard Co.      |Opinions expressed here are not O-                Ft. Collins, Colorado    |those of my employer or any other

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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > cities in this region are like SDF with service > only to ORD, but > perhaps by adding some Denver service from these cities they > can free > up some capacity at ORD. >    Besides SDF, there are a number of other prominent > ORD-but-not-DEN United destinations in the Midwest: >    CVG >    PIT >    Buffalo >    Madison >    Plus a few in the South: >    MEM >    Birmingham >    Some of these are hubs that UA might not want to fight with > (yet), while others should be side open when UA expands in DEN. > Cheers, >    Stephen

I find this thread to be enormously interesting. I am curious to know for thos that are speculating about where UA would expand i.e. Denver, how United is going to obtain the assets to do so. If you look at their order sheet one sees that those aircraft on order are mainly replacement with few for expansion. If UA does decide to go forward and start adding flights to DEN would that mean a massive order for new jets? Todd

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>Well Nate, one problem with your plan is that UA at ORD would be a lot closer >to the more desirable (read: richer) north and northwest side local market, >while AA would be closer to the less desirable (read:  poorer) south and

It seems to me like building a third airport in metro Chicago would be an easier sell than in other major cities because the wealth is spread out to a greater degree. Is the Peotone (sp?) site going to still be in Illinois? IMHO, if Chicago needs *another* airport, they should look in Indiana. Admittedly, Gary is no poster boy for upscale living, but I understand that there *are* suburbs in NW Indiana that are as affluent as NW Chicago. So if Gary’s existing airport was upgraded for commercial traffic, or if a new airport was built on the Indiana side, it looks to me like the airlines would have a nice traffic base from people living in Hammond, Lafayette, not to mention South Bend and the southwest corner of Michigan. –Dennis

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>This caused a huge fight between Mayor Daley’s office and Governor >Edgar… Edgar wants to build a third regional airport to keep up with >the traffic… i totally agree and support this… :) >what i’d like to see happen, but won’t is this: >United Airlines take over a vast majority of O’Hare; they have the most >money involved and control more slots.  This will allow United to grow >and keep ORD VERY VERY busy.  Each airline will beable to maintain a >small presence there. >Midway is being revamped and gates are being added.  This is good.

If a third airport is added, Midway may be in jeopardy.  I’ve heard that Herb from Southwest has already said if they build it (the third airport) he will come.

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> Thanks to those that answered my original post on the slot controls at > O’hare. Indeed the explanation of the runway layouts makes sense as to why > O’hare is controlled and ATL/DFW are not. Now my next question, if the > slots remain what will O’hare’s future be? This is United’s biggest hub. > Will they not be allowed to expand for the traffic increase in the next > decade? Will indeed O’hare become just a busy airport of the midwest?

United doesn’t have the slots to expand at O’Hare and IMHO they are pretty much at capacity.  United has already announced they will be making a major expansion at Denver, so I would expect to see most of United’s new growth there. As I’m based in the Louisville metro area, the only way for me to travel United is to make a connection up at ORD first as it is the only destination served directly by United.  Most of my flights are to the west coast, as I’m sure is the case with a number of people departing on United out of Louisville.  If they add some Louisville-Denver routes that will probably free up some capacity in the SDF-ORD market. I’m not sure how many other UA cities in this region are like SDF with service only to ORD, but perhaps by adding some Denver service from these cities they can free up some capacity at ORD. Regards, Steve

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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Thanks to those that answered my original post on the slot controls at > O’hare. Indeed the explanation of the runway layouts makes sense as to why > O’hare is controlled and ATL/DFW are not. Now my next question, if the > slots remain what will O’hare’s future be? This is United’s biggest hub. > Will they not be allowed to expand for the traffic increase in the next > decade? Will indeed O’hare become just a busy airport of the midwest? > Furthermore anyone who has friends that are from Chicago (not to pick on > anybody from Chicago) knows that they love to brag about their windy city! > Part of their bragging rights are their airport. Whenever I meet anyone > from Chicago that’s one of the first things they say, we have the world’s > busiest airport. It seems to be a political brag for the city as a whole. > Does anyone think that in the next 5 years when these non-aviation > enthusiast O’hare lovers figure out they’ve been completely outdone by ATL > and DFW there will be a call for local law makers (the mayor?) to lift the > slot restrictions, or at least issue another large batch? Is this > possible? > Still curious, > Todd > This caused a huge fight between Mayor Daley’s office and Governor > Edgar… Edgar wants to build a third regional airport to keep up with > the traffic… i totally agree and support this… :) > what i’d like to see happen, but won’t is this: > United Airlines take over a vast majority of O’Hare; they have the most > money involved and control more slots.  This will allow United to grow > and keep ORD VERY VERY busy.  Each airline will beable to maintain a > small presence there. > Midway is being revamped and gates are being added.  This is good. > Now, what i want to see happen is American move it’s hub to Peotone. > That way, AA can expand as well. > What do you guys think? Do i have a plan here or am i just stupid? <G> > Nate

Well Nate, one problem with your plan is that UA at ORD would be a lot closer to the more desirable (read: richer) north and northwest side local market, while AA would be closer to the less desirable (read:  poorer) south and southwest side markets. I think if the third airport ever does get built at the Peotone site Chicago would have to do what Denver did with Stapleton and close ORD.  MDW could stay open because of its mainly short-haul services, but they may have to put an Illinois version of the Wright(Wrong) Amendment into place!  :) just my two cents, Mike

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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> My personal opinion is that since ORD is just about maxed out, it’s time to > seriously start thinking about the Peotone(sp?) airport project–which bears > a striking resemblance to "Airport"’s Lincoln International! (get me > Patroni!) :) Mike >    I’ve seen the movie, but I don’t get the reference. >    What do you know about Peotone?  Have you seen plans?  I am quite > interested in this project and would like any info or references anyone > has. >    Thanks, >            Stephen

Have not seen any plans, just know what I read in the papers, AW&ST, etc.  I do suspect that if the powers that be ever get serious about this third Chicago airport, the NIMBY opposition will be fierce!  No relatively unpopulated prairie to build it on as was the case with DIA. The "Airport" reference was merely to note that in the movie (and novel) the fictional "Lincoln International Airport" was located somewhere south of Chicago, as is the proposed Peotone site.  Patroni was the name of George Kennedy’s character (lead mechanic at Lincoln for Trans-Global) who knew how to get a 707 unstuck from the muck! Mike (always wanted to have myself paged at an airport as "D. O. Guerrero!")

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> My personal opinion is that since ORD is just about maxed out, it’s time to > seriously start thinking about the Peotone(sp?) airport project–which bears > a striking resemblance to "Airport"’s Lincoln International! (get me > Patroni!) :) Mike

        I’ve seen the movie, but I don’t get the reference.         What do you know about Peotone?  Have you seen plans?  I am quite interested in this project and would like any info or references anyone has.         Thanks,                 Stephen

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> I didn’t follow the previous thread but I thought I read recently that > part of the reason for the slot control at O’Hare was due to noise in > the urban setting.  I also thought that the article went on to say that > they mayor was opening up more slots.  I read a lot so I might not be > remembering correctly…

Last I knew, Sen. McCain of Arizona, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, is pushing through a bill to increase the slots at ORD by 100 per day. This is part of his bill that is written so that America West (only) can provide DCA to Arizona non-stop service, and increases the number of slots at DCA by about 5%.  The bill will also increase the number of slots at LGA. Since he did all this without consulting the local authorities in any of the cities involved, there is at least some resentment.         Bob C.

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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Thanks to those that answered my original post on the slot controls at > O’hare. Indeed the explanation of the runway layouts makes sense as to why > O’hare is controlled and ATL/DFW are not. Now my next question, if the > slots remain what will O’hare’s future be? This is United’s biggest hub. > Will they not be allowed to expand for the traffic increase in the next > decade? Will indeed O’hare become just a busy airport of the midwest? > Furthermore anyone who has friends that are from Chicago (not to pick on > anybody from Chicago) knows that they love to brag about their windy city! > Part of their bragging rights are their airport. Whenever I meet anyone > from Chicago that’s one of the first things they say, we have the world’s > busiest airport. It seems to be a political brag for the city as a whole. > Does anyone think that in the next 5 years when these non-aviation > enthusiast O’hare lovers figure out they’ve been completely outdone by ATL > and DFW there will be a call for local law makers (the mayor?) to lift the > slot restrictions, or at least issue another large batch? Is this > possible? > Still curious, > Todd

This caused a huge fight between Mayor Daley’s office and Governor Edgar… Edgar wants to build a third regional airport to keep up with the traffic… i totally agree and support this… :) what i’d like to see happen, but won’t is this: United Airlines take over a vast majority of O’Hare; they have the most money involved and control more slots.  This will allow United to grow and keep ORD VERY VERY busy.  Each airline will beable to maintain a small presence there. Midway is being revamped and gates are being added.  This is good. Now, what i want to see happen is American move it’s hub to Peotone. That way, AA can expand as well. What do you guys think? Do i have a plan here or am i just stupid? <G> Nate

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Thanks to those that answered my original post on the slot controls at O’hare. Indeed the explanation of the runway layouts makes sense as to why O’hare is controlled and ATL/DFW are not. Now my next question, if the slots remain what will O’hare’s future be? This is United’s biggest hub. Will they not be allowed to expand for the traffic increase in the next decade? Will indeed O’hare become just a busy airport of the midwest? Furthermore anyone who has friends that are from Chicago (not to pick on anybody from Chicago) knows that they love to brag about their windy city! Part of their bragging rights are their airport. Whenever I meet anyone from Chicago that’s one of the first things they say, we have the world’s busiest airport. It seems to be a political brag for the city as a whole. Does anyone think that in the next 5 years when these non-aviation enthusiast O’hare lovers figure out they’ve been completely outdone by ATL and DFW there will be a call for local law makers (the mayor?) to lift the slot restrictions, or at least issue another large batch? Is this possible? Still curious, Todd

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I didn’t follow the previous thread but I thought I read recently that part of the reason for the slot control at O’Hare was due to noise in the urban setting.  I also thought that the article went on to say that they mayor was opening up more slots.  I read a lot so I might not be remembering correctly… Bill > Thanks to those that answered my original post on the slot controls at > O’hare. Indeed the explanation of the runway layouts makes sense as to why > O’hare is controlled and ATL/DFW are not.  

– bill hull sdrc/metaphase, asia-pacific group, pdm technical consultant phone:513.576.2907 fax:513.576.2480 http://www.sdrc.com

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>  Now my next question, if the > slots remain what will O’hare’s future be? This is United’s biggest hub.

        This subject was tossed around a little last year.  Not everyone agreed with me, but I propose the following scenario, which should hold equally for United and American at O’Hare (to simplify the argument, I will focus on United, then show that the situation should be similar for American):         As you stated, United enjoys a strong presence at ORD, and will surely stay there. United also dominates DEN, the most expandable airport in the country.  As traffic across the nation’s system increases, UA can add flights to smaller and smaller cities from DEN and will likely focus much of their domestic expansion there, and in fact have stated on several occasions to do so.  However, DEN is suitable for only West Coast (WC) to East Coast (EC) and WC to Midwest (MW) hubbing traffic.           This is where my theory comes in.  United could build their operations in DEN by as much as 200 gates, if they had the resources, while at ORD, they are severely limited.  What I propose is that United will slowly evolve so that ORD becomes more of an EC to MW hub while DEN increases its share of EC to WC traffic.  DEN is no good for EC to MW, so all of that traffic has to go through ORD.           At the same time, why funnel EC to WC traffic through ORD when you can funnel it through DEN?  I am certainly not proposing that UA completely shed its ORD to WC flights, but why not pare them down to a lower frequency so that they can increase the frequency with which they serve the EC to MW market for which DEN is useless?  In this manner, they would have greater systemwide capacity for all transcontinental flights to keep up with the growing need for air transport.         As for American, the situation should be similar.  Why funnel EC to WC flight through ORD when DFW has the capacity to accomodate them?   The only difference between UA and AA is the transcontinental markets they serve are different due to the geographical positions of DEN and DFW.  People connecting from Florida to SoCal are not that likely to connect in ORD anyway, while people connecting from New England to the Northwest will probably want to connect in ORD.         Obviously there will be plenty of opportunity to continue connecting in ORD on each of these airlines on coast-to-coast flights, even after each has developed DFW and DEN more, but I still expect both airlines to replace EC-WC connecting flights at ORD with EC-MW flights. > Does anyone think that in the next 5 years when these non-aviation > enthusiast O’hare lovers figure out they’ve been completely outdone by ATL > and DFW there will be a call for local law makers (the mayor?) to lift the > slot restrictions, or at least issue another large batch? Is this > possible?

        I’m sure the business and political leaders of Chicago are WELL aware that their prized superlative has been dethroned.  What can they do about it?  I really have no idea…  If they want to regain the #1 spot, they had better act quick and raze some wealthy neighborhoods, or buy Delta, or nuke Atlanta.  ATL will be well ahead of ORD pretty soon. Cheers,         Stephen

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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Thanks to those that answered my original post on the slot controls at > O’hare. Indeed the explanation of the runway layouts makes sense as to why > O’hare is controlled and ATL/DFW are not. Now my next question, if the > slots remain what will O’hare’s future be? This is United’s biggest hub. > Will they not be allowed to expand for the traffic increase in the next > decade? Will indeed O’hare become just a busy airport of the midwest? > Furthermore anyone who has friends that are from Chicago (not to pick on > anybody from Chicago) knows that they love to brag about their windy city! > Part of their bragging rights are their airport. Whenever I meet anyone > from Chicago that’s one of the first things they say, we have the world’s > busiest airport. It seems to be a political brag for the city as a whole. > Does anyone think that in the next 5 years when these non-aviation > enthusiast O’hare lovers figure out they’ve been completely outdone by ATL > and DFW there will be a call for local law makers (the mayor?) to lift the > slot restrictions, or at least issue another large batch? Is this > possible? > Still curious, > Todd

My personal opinion is that since ORD is just about maxed out, it’s time to seriously start thinking about the Peotone(sp?) airport project–which bears a striking resemblance to "Airport"’s Lincoln International! (get me Patroni!) :) Mike

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