FAA PROPOSES GREATER FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS THAN PREVIOUSLY ANTICIPATED AT ORD
April 3, 2026
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On March 18, 2026, the FAA invoked its statutory delay-reduction authority to reconvene a scheduling reduction meeting among itself, U.S. air carriers, and the Chicago Department of Aviation to consider additional flight restrictions at Chicago O’Hare International Airport for the Summer 2026 scheduling season. Earlier this month, the FAA proposed limiting daily operations at ORD throughout the Summer 2026 season at 2,800, yet regulators now plan to cap total daily operations at 2,680 takeoffs and landings. In accordance with the IATA Worldwide Airport Slot Guidelines, the FAA will utilize each carrier’s Summer 2025 schedule at ORD as the baseline for determining flight reductions to be borne by those carriers during the upcoming season. Given that flight restrictions are being proposed at a time when published schedules exceed 3,080 daily operations, there could be considerable pushback from U.S. air carriers, especially low-cost carriers with modest operations compared to those of major U.S. air carriers such as United and American. For example, Spirit Airlines filed comments in which it argued that a carrier-specific reduction methodology should be implemented whereby the burden of flight reductions should be borne by those “carriers whose aggressive expansion created the crisis.” According to Spirit, American and United are to blame for the congestion and therefore the FAA should saddle those two carriers with the responsibility to implement the requested reduction framework. Spirit contends that the FAA can surely achieve its capacity target without penalizing carriers, like Spirit, who are purportedly not to blame for the congestion caused by the current “scheduling arms race” between American and United.
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