By rssfeeds-admin “The fight for slots and gates has never been more intense,” said travel expert Peter Greenberg. “Without that, you can’t compete. With that, you can dominate.”
American Airlines is now suing the City of Chicago, arguing a plan to hand over roughly six O’Hare gates to archrival United is part of a plan to “marginalize” American and is a violation of its lease agreement.
“I don’t think there’s any place like O’Hare where you have two global network carriers that both operate big connecting hubs in the same airport,” said American Airlines senior vice president Stephen Neuman. “Frankly, it would be harmful to the city and harmful to the citizens and businesses if there was anything done to erode that dual hub, especially at a time when American Airlines is growing significantly.”
Air travelers benefit from Chicago’s unique role as a hub for both American and United, as well as Southwest Airlines at Midway International Airport. Federal data shows airports with the highest ticket prices are those dominated by a single carrier. O’Hare ranked seventh on the list with an average ticket price of $393, a few dollars below the national average for large airports.
Chicago-based United counters that its post-Covid comeback and investments have focused on O’Hare while American focused energy on its network in the southern United States.
“There’s no reason why Chicago should be losing out in any metric to a place like Charlotte, which is three times smaller than Chicago but running an airport almost as large,” said Omar Idris, who runs O’Hare operations for United.
Both airlines have invested in new aircraft, destinations and premium offerings in Chicago. United recently opened a renovated and expanded Polaris lounge for premium international flyers.
“We were making these conscious decisions and investing because it was right for our customers, not because the competition was doing something similar, and they haven’t yet,” Idris said.
United is seeking to intervene in American’s lawsuit against the City of Chicago arguing the gates were under-utilized and American’s lawsuit is “dressed up as a contract claim… [but] amounts to a desperate attack against American’s chief rival at O’Hare.”
United operates 48% of departures at O’Hare while American claims 35% of O’Hare take-offs. Both airlines say they expect their O’Hare operations to reach record levels this summer.
O’Hare’s capacity is set to change significantly in the next decade with construction just getting underway on new satellite concourses and a global terminal that will result in new gates and new capacity for airlines. The latest price tag puts the project at $8.45B, with completion expected in 2034.
Travel experts say the competition and Chicago’s hub status for multiple carriers gives passengers more destinations, more flight frequency and lower prices.
“You not only have choice you have competition and you have the possibility in many cases of lower airfares,” said Greenberg.
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