O’Hare, airports around the country could see record number of travelers during Fourth of July holiday week

CHICAGO — Millions of people around the country will be traveling through the air during the Fourth of July holiday week, and it could be a record number.

O’Hare International Airport is expected to welcome 1.54 million travelers from Wednesday through Monday, up 11% compared to last year’s Fourth of July weekend and a 9% increase over 2019, the busiest year on record.

American Airlines is running its largest-ever Fourth of July operation this year, with more than 4,800 flights scheduled to depart from O’Hare from Friday through Monday, 20% more than last year’s Fourth of July weekend.

Midway International Airport, meanwhile, is expected to see a little more than 300,000 travelers from Wednesday through Monday, making it about 1.8 million total projected to travel through Chicago’s two major airports during the holiday week.

Arriving on time

Georgiaree Godfrey, Director of Public Information for the Chicago Department of Aviation, recommends that passengers should arrive to the airport two hours before their flight for domestic travel and three hours before their flight for international travel.

In the case of O’Hare, Godfrey reminds travelers that the ongoing construction on the Kennedy Expressway is increasing the amount of time it takes to get to the airport.

“You’ve got to remember, the Kennedy has lots of traffic,” Godfrey said. “So that 45 minutes that you think you may need maybe puts you two hours behind, because of the traffic on the Kennedy.”

O’Hare has added a rideshare pickup location to Terminal 3 to the one already at Terminal 2.

“For passengers who are arriving in T3, I know they’ll appreciate not having to walk over here and catch the ATS to connect to another terminal to get rideshare,” Godfrey said.

The Transportation Security Administration says air travelers should expect the busiest day to be Sunday, when passenger volume is forecast to reach 2.9 million nationally.

As of about 7:30 a.m. Monday, according to flychicago.com, there were 25 flight cancellations at O’Hare, with average delays of less than 15 minutes, and one flight cancellation at Midway, with average delays also under 15 minutes.

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