Watching Chicago O'Hare live
Eight runways, two giant hubs, and weather that keeps everyone on their toes.
The layout
O'Hare's modernisation turned a tangle of crossing runways into a mostly parallel system: six east–west runways in two groups, 9L/27R, 9C/27C and 9R/27L to the north and 10L/28R, 10C/28C and 10R/28L to the south, plus two diagonals, 4L/22R and 4R/22L. The terminal core sits in the middle, Terminals 1, 2 and 3 in a ring with Terminal 5, the international terminal, off to the east. Terminal 1 is United's, with the famous neon-lit tunnel between its concourses; American lives in Terminal 3.
The layout means arrivals and departures can run on several parallel runways at once, which is what lets O'Hare handle more than two thousand movements on a busy day.
How the flow works
West flow is the usual pattern: aircraft arrive from the east and land toward the west on the 27s and 28s, while departures take off westbound. When winds swing round, the field flips to east flow and everything reverses. Watch the map for a few minutes and you will see the rhythm: simultaneous approaches to two or three parallel runways, each lined up with the next aircraft only a couple of miles behind.
United and American both run banks of connecting flights, so traffic comes in waves through the day: a burst of arrivals, then a burst of departures forty minutes later, then quiet, then again.
What to watch for
The fleet is narrowbody-heavy, with hundreds of 737s, A320s and regional jets, but international widebodies come and go all day, and the cargo ramp on the south side sees 747 and 777 freighters. In winter, snow operations are a show of their own: plows sweep the runways, the de-icing pads fill up, and the pace slows but rarely stops. In summer, afternoon thunderstorms roll in from the west and the map goes quiet as ground stops take hold.
The weather panel on each card tells you the sky condition from the airport's current METAR, and the runway lighting follows the flow the traffic is using.
More airports
- LAXLos Angeles International AirportFour parallel runways beside the Pacific, and the busiest airport on the US west coast.
- ORDChicago O'Hare International AirportEight runways, two giant hubs, and weather that keeps everyone on their toes.
- ATLHartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International AirportThe busiest airport on Earth: five parallel runways and an arrival every minute.
- DXBDubai International AirportA380s all day at the busiest international hub in the world.
- LHRLondon Heathrow AirportTwo runways running flat out, Terminal 5 at the west end.
- JFKJohn F. Kennedy International AirportCrossing runway pairs on Jamaica Bay, the AirTrain circling the terminals.
- SANSan Diego International AirportOne runway between the bay and downtown, and the steepest approach in the country.
- AMSAmsterdam Airport SchipholSix runways four metres below sea level, and a fifteen-minute taxi to the Polderbaan.
- DFWDallas/Fort Worth International AirportSeven runways on a site the size of Manhattan, Skylink threading the half-moon terminals.
- HNDTokyo Haneda AirportAsia's busiest airport: four runways on reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay, one standing on piers.
- BKKSuvarnabhumi AirportThree parallel runways around one vast terminal on the marsh east of the city.
- GRUSão Paulo/Guarulhos International AirportSouth America's busiest airport: two parallel runways on the plateau north-east of the biggest city in the hemisphere.
- SYDSydney Kingsford Smith AirportAustralia's busiest airport: two parallel runways reaching out into Botany Bay, and a third across them.
- SINSingapore Changi AirportThree parallel runways on reclaimed land at the eastern tip of the island, and the best-run hub in the world.
- HKGHong Kong International AirportThree parallel runways on an island built for the purpose, between the sea and the mountains of Lantau.