International airport in
Chicago, Illinois. ORD is the headquarters of
United Airlines and the second-largest
hub of
American Airlines.
O'Hare was built in the late 1940's on a site called Orchard Field (hence the abbreviation ORD), which at the time was used for assembling Douglas aircraft. It was subsequently named after Edward "Butch" O'Hare, a fighter pilot and Medal of Honor recipient in World War II. It opened in 1955, became international in 1958, and took over Chicago Midway Airport's scheduled services in 1962.
In terms of plane movements, it is the Busiest Airport In The World: if you're counting by passengers, that honor belongs to Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport. The situation was actually reversed during the 1980's and 1990's, with Chicago leading in passengers and Atlanta leading in planes.
The airport has a whopping seven runways (compared to four at Atlanta and two/three at Heathrow), but the current configuration is very inefficient, as they criscross each other so that only three can be used at once. A $6 billion plan is in the works to demolish three extraneous runways, extend two of the original runways, and build four new runways so that the airport will be able to operate seven runways at the same time, enough to handle 1.6 million aircraft a year (compared to 800-900,000 now). O'Hare is notorious for delays and cancellations (especially in Chicago winter conditions), and these delays often keep aircraft from serving other routes in other areas, so the expansion should help on-time airline performance across the US.
Terminals
Terminal 1: Used almost exclusively by United. Lufthansa uses United's departure gates. It is divided into Concourse B, a single long rectangle parallel to the access road, and Concourse C, a satellite concourse parallel to Concourse B.
Terminal 2: Used by United, Continental Airlines, Air Canada, US Airways, America West Airlines, and Northwest Airlines. Shaped like a Y: the two branches of the Y are Concourse E and Concourse F.
Terminal 3: American's home turf, shared with Delta Airlines, Iberia, and Alaska Airlines. Also shaped like a Y, but the branches in T3 are called Concourse H and Concourse K. There are also two shorter piers sticking out of the terminal called Concourse G and Concourse L. Concourse G is connected to a circular building called—get ready—the Circle Building, which has some of O'Hare's best restaurants. Trivia: Terminal 3 is where Macaulay Culkin became separated from his parents in Home Alone 2.
Terminal 4: The old international terminal, in reality little more than a bus terminal that held international passengers until they could be bused out to their planes on the tarmac. T4 was converted into a CTA bus terminal and train station in the mid-1990's.
Terminal 5: The new international terminal. It handles all international arrivals into O'Hare and most international departures. Also used by Spirit Airlines and Sun Country for domestic flights. It has only one concourse, Concourse M.
The terminals are all linked by an airport train called the ATS.
Web site: www.ohare.com/ohare