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I was born in downtown Chicago and have lived here all my life. I fly out of O'Hare a lot and it's definitely in need of this massive upgrade. It's long overdue.
I totally agree! These renovations will make O’Hare one of the premier airports in the world. O’Hare has always been a leader in innovation and these upgrades will make sure that tradition continues.
@@garykaplan7728 O’Hare had never been particularly innovative. That’s why it’s lag behind so much. That an local politics. The terminal renovation is only about 20 years too late and even the current plan only solves part of the problem
$8.5 billion? That is a ridiculous price tag. Heck it has taken them going on 3 years just to finish the extension and renovation of the ATS monorail (that was originally supposed to be completed by September 2019 and is still ongoing with no end in sight). Now they're promising us this new terminal by 2028? We'll be watching won't we.
My preference was for the Santiago Cantalvra. That option had more green (trees) and more space for the passengers. I'm from Chicago and I use O'Hare extensively. Great video!!!!!
$8.5 billion is highly underestimated in costs. Salt Lake City is rebuilding its airport in the amount of $4.4 billion to serve 25 million passengers a year. Also Chicago will need to reassess the need for additional gates for the A380 as more and more airlines are dumping their A380 aircraft
Yeah. I’m definitely anticipating this project to cost a lot more too! I do like the design of the global terminal though and I hope it can improve O’Hare! Thanks for watching!
Not only am I concerned about cost overruns, I'm also concerned about delays in project completion. I mean for heaven's sake, the upgrade and extension of the people-mover system at O'Hare was only supposed to require eight months, and it is still not finished after 2+ years. I don't trust the city of Chicago.
I grew up in Chicago (Cicero area) and my family used to go watch planes either at O'Hare or Midway. We are moving back to Chicago this year. Thank you Chicago for expanding ORD. I used to fly into ORD when I went home to visit. :)
As someone who works in the current terminal 2 at O'Hare, I can not wait. I am always seeing the expansion of terminal 5 and am excited to see the new changes. I hope it lives up to people's expectations. I also hope that it changes people's perception of the airport. Thank you for the video
I don't even live in Chicago and I'm very excited for the global terminal! I think it's the best looking terminal in the US! Oh, and speaking of Terminal 5, do you know how much progress has been made on it and do you know what the most updated completion date for it is? Thanks and Thanks for watching!
@@jonesrmj I don't know how e much progress has been done to terminal 5, it looks like it's on schedule though, I hate to say this but I think Covid helped it stay on schedule as less people are flying which would help construction stay on course. I don't know if it will be better then the new salt lake city is, that is supposed to be amazing. I know LaGuardia for the limited space they have, what they have been able to do is nothing but a miracle. Even Denver and smaller station like New Orleans is supposed to be amazing But one thing is certain, the US is airports still may be able to compete with some other countries with amenities, but they getting better at configurations for landing and taking off, more space for planes and passengers waiting at the gates, better better, hopefully better amenities, better views. Also all of this to will help passengers and employees out.
@@jamesf791 I think the Global Terminal will be even nicer than the new SLC Terminal. The Global Terminal looks like something you would find at Singapore's Airport, while SLC just looks like a modern standard US airport. That's not to say the new SLC is bad, just the O'Hare Global Terminal is world class.
Terminal 4 was not the "old International terminal." Terminal 1 was the old international terminal. When they rebuilt it, they created Terminal 4 as the Temporary terminal.
As someone who has transited through O'Hare dozens of times, with roughly half of those having 15 minutes or more of delay, I am really glad that this upgrade is taking place. Once it's completed, I will try to book more flights to experience the new set up.
To summarize: 1) T5 is expanded. The future of Delta hub. 2) T2 is rebuild with bigger interior room and roughly the same number of gates in place. 3) 2 additional larger concourses are build connected to T2 via underground shuttles. 4) Improved ground transportation to rental center etc. 5) A useless short runway is removed to make space. I'm excited
I’ve flown into ORD from SFO since 2018 for work, until 2020, I don’t like the United terminal as the seating area it limited to around 50 people but the jets are passenger capacity are from 150 to 300 so that doesn’t cut it. Hopefully they solve this issue with new terminals design.
The City can't get the ATS upgrade finished timely. It was supposed to be finished in 2019. It's 2021, and no one will say when the project will be completed. So, who knows when this will be complete.
I like O'Hare, but it's never been a destination airport, yet. I fly United a lot for my work trips and it's one I go through a lot. I've only needed to leave it once and that was December 2022. Fun time got stuck at Dulles left the next day and got stuck at O'Hare. The only drawback of being in O'Hare at the time before I got a rental car and hotel was it was cold as hell inside the airport, but that's it. Never had an issue navigating it but it helps that the flights to San Antonio are all direct and usually out of 1 terminal
oThank you for the interesting and detailed information, not only about the future of ORD, but also its history. The new Global terminal looks amazing.
yesterday I was at ohares terminal 5 and I saw that there already doin’ dat concourse 5 extension are ready but we couldn’t go to it so now I’m in Texas 😎👍
Hi Jones, I am really glad that I was able to find your channel. Very informative content! I wonder if O’Hare really has a need for more A380 gates since Lufthansa and Air France no longer has them, and they never flew them to ORD. Perhaps Emirates could but they will retire it by around 2035, and if the market grows they would be better of by competition against Qatar and Etihad by offering more frequencies. It’ll be really cool to see Delta streamline their operations at T5 once it expands. Very good video, looking forward to more! Perhaps you could do one on LAX if you have not already done so :)
Thanks! British Airways has flown the A380 to O’Hare, and they’ve shown interest in keeping the A380 around so I think it will come to O’Hare again in the future. I also could see Emirates bring it here in the near future!
Expand I-90 first. There is an 8-lane interstate from downtown Milwaukee to O'hare airport. There is a 6-lane interstate from downtown Chicago to O'hare airport.
More lanes doesn’t always mean less traffic. That’s a common misconception. Take LA as an example. Also, I’m not sure they would have the space to add more lanes since Chicagoland is pretty developed especially around I-90.
@@jonesrmj Traffic flows fine until the road narrows to 3 lanes. Then it becomes a parking lot. There is space to add a 4th lane but it's being used by the train.
I’ve worked in o hare airport in 1989 . Work at host Marriott as a bus boy . I also worked as a ramp agent for 3 different companies after that . I miss that airport and I’m looking forward to the expansion.
The runway reconfiguration started well before 2016. More like 2006. 2016 is when they got the final approval on the final new runway and the extension on of another. This will be the final completion of 15+ year project. A lot of community resistance Legal fighting and funding drug it out for a long time
USA3000 used to operate domestic flights out of terminal 5 at ORD between 2002 and 2009. Before obtaining a gate at terminal 3, ORD offered Virgin American the opportunity to use terminal 5 for its operations as well.
The concepts of spoke and hub operations were first tried at O'Hare. The modern jet way and multiple terminals are also firsts at O'Hare. It has more operational runways than any airport in the world and was awarded "best connected airport" in 2022 with more destinations than any rival airport. Name another airport with commuter rail, heavy rail, and a people mover.
ORD is (and always has been) huge, amazing, and challenging. It's the 1st Big City airport I ever flew into, 1st time int'l flight, and subsequently 1st ever rtn through Customs & Immigration. Anything short of lighting my head on fire and kicking me in the ba**s will be a substantial improvement. For all the grief it's caused over the years, however, ORD does a remarkable job of pushing people through its domains. I've often seen it more as a convenient punching bag than an insurmountable disaster. STL, a much smaller airport (even in its TWA heydey) always gave me more consistent nightmares than ORD ever did. And if the City of Chicago's transformation of MDW is any indication, Chicago's ORD makeover will be worth every penny spent.
I agree that O’Hare is a great airport. I feel like all the complaints people have about an airport are because it’s big and “confusing” and think small airports are heaven. But hey, what other airport in the US let’s you fly to all seven continents? Only O’Hare! And big airports like O’Hare are much better than small airports in my opinion because you basically will always have a nonstop flight no matter where you are going, while these small airports that people love will usually require you to connect at a big airport.
Excellent video! I have always been an O'Hare fan as I have traveled through there for decades. I am glad to see there is a real plan to improve the main terminal. I will say that some of this may slow due to the pandemic, but not certain. I also wonder about the international terminal adding another A380-gate. As mentioned below the A380 is all but gone in today's aviation world. Sure, they still exist, but no new ones are being built. But overall, great look at future possibilities.
Thanks! I am too very excited for the Global terminal because it’s by far the nicest looking terminal in the US IMO and looks like something you would find in Singapore! Also, it’s not only T5 that’s adding another A380 gate, but the global terminal is also adding some as well. And while yeah, some airlines are dropping their A380s, there are still some that show interest in keeping them around. I could see British Airways and Emirates bring their A380s to O’Hare in the near future as air travel recovers, and maybe even Korean Air. These three airlines have shown interest/operated an A380 flight to O’Hare before and have show interest in keeping the A380s around through the pandemic.
@@MikeJones-bl6lu Actually, it was built for Emirates, which had a one-off A380 visit to O'Hare in 2016 to test the new gate. British Airways though had the first regular scheduled A380 service to O'Hare, which started in 2018.
@@jonesrmj BA is still the only plane allowed to use that gate. Not that you need one for a plane that didn’t really work as well. Boeing learned from the failure of the 380 and will use folding wingtips so it can use gates that are already built.
@@sean2015 I’m from Chicago and Ive flown in Ohare many times and it doesn’t even compare to other airports in the world. I have family in Doha, I’m actually going there next month and hamad international airport literally shits on Ohare in every possible way, it’s absolutely beautiful. Im gonna have a transit flight in the new Istanbul airport so I can’t wait to see how that looks too
@@mblackops2 you're right. Many airports around the world are far superior to even the best U.S. airport. In fact Donald Trump once talked about this when he was first campaigning for president. He made the exact same point that you've made here. Singapore's airport for example, has a shopping mall, cinema and even an ice skating rink if I'm not mistaken. Safe travels.
Very informative. Thanks for your work. The country overall needs huge infrastructure upgrades but when the top 1% who own half the wealth pay the same tax as someone making 500,000 a year your revenue to work with just isn’t there. Factor in corporate income taxes going from 35% to 21% you have major revenue shortfalls. America currently constructed financially is choking itself making our infrastructure substandard globally now and for the foreseeable future.
I definitely agree that our infrastructure needs upgrading. We are one of the wealthiest countries in the world and yet our infrastructure is very poor. Hopefully that can change in the future!
The chosen terminal is beautiful, but 'seamless travel between international and domestic flights' is offered at every major European hub: Frankfurt, Munich, Amsterdam, Zurich, Vienna, Paris, just to name those I have actually flown to/from/via. Here is to note that most European flights are regarded domestic as most European countries are member of the Schengen agreement, namely all EU member states minus Ireland, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Cyprus (the latter four prospective members) and plus Switzerland and Norway. International travel in the airport sense is in Europe everything that goes Eastern Europe (Russia/CIS), America, Asia, Africa, so quantitive traffic divide international/domestic is roughly the same as in the U.S..
For me the Number 1 feature is being able to see the planes and as much of them throughout the airport as possible. The trees are nice also except for when they block out the ability to see the planes.
The trees in the Studio ORD proposal are in the middle of the concourse, not against the large floor-to-ceiling windows so I don’t think they’ll really block out the ability to see the planes.
One way to fix O'hare is all intersecting runways need to be closed which means 14 and 22 left and right need to go these runways intersect others and several taxiways once they are closed a new taxiway needs to be built to route traffic the new terminals.
22L and 22R are staying for those days that we have strong winds out of the south due to landing crosswind restrictions on the Jets. This way operations can continue with a limited capacity during those days.
There still finishing up the runways and the people mover... However due to Financial restraints caused by the pandemic the rest of the expansion may very well be delayed...
@@jonesrmj The money has already been allocated for the project. They have actually been able to speed it up because they can close more gates at a time. Only delays would be if contractors or engineers come from other countries like what's delayed the ATS the past year.
the new modifications are interesting in terms of the concourses, however, your video didnt mention any changes to the runways which are rather complex. Im not an expert, but having a cirs cross of runways doesnt seem to be very raffic eficient
Airlines such as Emirates plan to continue flying their A380s for another 15+ years. Seeing how they are building gates from scratch anyway, adding the extras that a super-jumbo needs isn’t really a big stretch.
I swear Chicago continuously throws money into projects to cater to outta towners or into projects like this where it’s a good idea but we have other things to fix in the city....like our schools & neighborhoods that are under developed Like throw $xxx amount of millions into things that are important
Until the “urban” population of Chicago straightens itself out and stops destroying the city it’s better to spend money on transportation projects that normal, productive people utilize. No amount of money will fix the problems of Chicago until this happens. But they will sure complain and ask for handouts won’t they.
@@davidstone9467 maybe a way to “straighten out” the “urban” community is to invest in their (the community) living situation and education so they don’t destroy the city I just feel the city wastes money in cosmetic ventures rather than something to actually fix the “destruction” of the city
They are building a western bypass I-490 which connects I-90, I-390 and I-294 together and eventually there will be a western access point for passengers and employee's.
Termminal 5 expansion complete ATS extension to Rental Car/Multimodal Center complete Runway reconfiguration complete Sarellite concourse 1 is currently under construction and will connect to Terminal 1 when completed This will allow current Terminal 2 operations to move to the new concourse so Terminals 2 can be demolished and rebuilt as the Global Terminal A second satellite concourse is planned that can provide western access to the airport
Yeah Santiago Calatrava’s design is definitely the coolest and most futuristic looking, but it’s also the least realistic of the bunch and would’ve gone way over budget.
Probably not. From my understanding, T1 and T3 will be pretty much exclusively domestic United and American and the Global Terminal and two new satellites will handle all international traffic (except sky team which will operate out of T5).
@@jonesrmj I've been to 10 other countries and Chicago is still my favorite city. Although it is not perfect. It can learn a lot from other cities with better walkability and increased public transit.
I learned a long time ago NOT to believe a word that Chicago or Illinois claims. This should have been done 30 years ago and as with everything else in Chicago will likely cost twice as much and take twice as long to deliver and will likely be underwhelming. Wish you the best.
is satellite 2 a new united concourse since satellite 1 is concourse c and as i see on there at 6:29 that concourse c is getting extended gates and if satellite 2 is a new concourse for united what will be the new concourse name
@@jonesrmj but nothing happening to concourse c or is it getting more gates since it`s connected to satellite 1 what`s going on with concourse C since it`s showing as satellite 1
Yes Midway still exists, but is only really used by Southwest and Allegiant. The rest of the airlines operate the vast majority of their flights from O'Hare. In fact, even Southwest has started flying out of O'Hare recently.
@@jonesrmj Midway is very busy with Southwest flights every couple of minutes. The terminal has been undergoing renovations for more than a year or so, expanding the security area. They've also started to add more concessions in the terminals. The areas surrounding the airports are filled with parking lots and garages, which are always full. It's very convenient to fly in and out of Midway for those that are on the Southwest side of Chicago and surrounding suburbs.
I wouldn't say that it's a waste because an A380 gate often uses a MARS system that allows for the gates to service multiple aircraft when not being used by an a380 or 747. these gates can be used also on future aircraft like the 777x.
@@mrrockdaddy100 Ah ok. Yeah, Santiago Calatrava's design is very nice, and I like the garden concept outside the terminal, but I'm not really the biggest fan of the few shots it showed inside. I found it way too white and open.
I honestly think that both airports are about the same as far as convenience goes. They both are connected to the cta and both are easily connected to the city with expressways. And O’Hare has way more routes while Midway is basically just Southwest.
@@jonesrmj Don't count Southwest out - Southwest flies to a whole lot of cities, including Hawaii now, via Chi to CA. They also have international flights to Mexico and other Carribean locations.
@@arlenel9583 Not saying that they are bad, just the fact is O’Hare has way more nonstop flights than Midway, especially international, and even Southwest has started operating out of O’Hare.
@@jonesrmj Some people around this area of Midway thought that SW flying out of O'Hare would be the beginning of the end for SW/Midway. Common sense would say that it'd be awful insane to stop hundreds of flights out of Midway for a few flights/gates out of O'Hare. I don't see that happening Not sure how many additional flights SW can fly out of O'Hare because of the lack of gates available, but I'm sure there's a few people who were happy to see SW go into O'Hare. SW is a great carrier.
@@arlenel9583 Yeah, the problem with Midway is that it simply cannot expand anymore from it's current size, and O'Hare just simply has the better infrastructure to handle more flights and bigger planes. But I do recognize why some people might prefer Midway since it is closer to the southern suburbs of Chicago. I do agree that Southwest starting flights out of O'Hare doesn't necessarily mean they are planning to stop flying out of Midway, at least anytime soon. But I do think once the whole Global Terminal project at O'Hare is completed, that will add a lot more gates to O'Hare, and Southwest will have room to expand at O'Hare.
I do welcome an update to my airport but gotta say I kinda like it as is. I know this airport, second nature. I can zip through, get to security, then realize I still have an hour or more to chill. The masses are only a distraction because they don't know where to go next. If you know O'Hare it is really easy. Leaving is even easier as long as you don't have checked bags. I live right down the road and fly out of and return a minimum of twelve times a year. The reason people hate on this airport is that they are confused and the staff is not the best. Know what you are doing. I do that in every city.
Oh really, I kind of like the wood because it gives it a nice contrast rather than just being white, but I respect your opinion. And this wasn’t my first choice either but I think I’m fine with it. Also, it actually is going to be slightly redesigned before it’s built due to the extreme cost to heat/cool that big open area.
@@jonesrmj Being aerospace oriented, I am always interested in runway management. Directions, impacts of weather, etc. What drove the airport to add some runways, remove others? Which are the primaries. Terminals are a necessary means of moving passengers between the ground and the planes, no more. Long concourses, distracting shops, etc. are not for me. Fancy architectures, are just added expense.
A380's are going to be extinct very soon as most operators are mothballing them as fast as possible. Which begs to question why the city of Chicago would be investing in upgrading the number of jetways to accommodate this soon to be dinosaur.
The plans were finalized long before the pandemic was a thing. Plus they won't scrap it because we don't know what will happen in a year or two when its over. The airlines could pull the a380 out of the storage.
@@MrFlyboy1313 Here's a portion of an Australian blog that confirms that the future of the A380 isn't all too rosy....... "Despite these innovations for the passenger onboard experience, orders were drying up even well before the COVID-19 outbreak. In fact, Airbus made the call in early 2019 to end production of its iconic jet sometime in 2021, after Emirates reduced a 53-strong A380 order down to 14. The global pandemic is the final nail in the coffin for the Airbus A380. Most jets are currently grounded at the time of writing and airlines are hesitant to put a firm date to their reintroduction." www.pointhacks.com.au/future-of-a380/#:~:text=In%20fact%2C%20Airbus%20made%20the,coffin%20for%20the%20Airbus%20A380.
@@pawelodziomek4908 shame that cucumber was built to be a multi-use aircraft capable to land at most airports while the ugly 380 needed special runways and gates and can’t be re-used unless they do a complete rebuild of the aircraft. It was also dead on arrival. 40 years too late.
@@pawelodziomek4908 about what. A piece of crap looks better then a plane that was mated with a whale. The ugliest creature in the world looks like a top model compared to the 380. The a380 was built 40 years too late and nobody wants it anymore. The 747 outlasted it.