American Airlines and United Airlines are two of the world’s largest and most influential carriers.
The latter is the world’s largest airline by the number of destinations served, while the former is the world’s largest by employees and available seat capacity.
Both carriers have made a profound impact on the industry as a whole, as they have each built massive hubs and helped build a global brand that identifies them as major airlines serving the United States.
As a consequence of their development, each of these carriers has built out its own unique route network.
As hub-and-spoke carriers, both American and United funnel passengers through large connecting hubs as they aim to connect as many travelers as possible to as many destinations as they can.
As a result, their operations have been mostly compartmentalized into their major connecting hubs, meaning that there are few examples of times in which both compete head-to-head.
One of these unique examples of direct market competition is at Chicago-O’Hare International Airport.
At this facility, both airlines have a major hub, and each competes to attract a significant portion of the overall passenger traffic.
Furthermore, the Chicago market is heavily saturated with business traffic, making the airport extremely lucrative.
In this article, we will take a deeper look at the direct competition between these two carriers at Chicago O’Hare.
A quick overview of Chicago-O’Hare International Airport: Chicago-O’Hare International Airport is a major global airport located just around 17 miles from Chicago’s business district.
The facility, which covers more than 7,600 acres, offers non-stop flights to nearly 250 global destinations across all inhabited continents except Australia.
The facility has long been recognized as the best-connected airport in the United States and the 5th best-connected globally.
In terms of global passenger traffic rankings, O’Hare is the fourth-busiest airport worldwide, and it is the 16th-largest by overall area.
A plane originally developed during the Second World War as an airfield designed for the Douglas Aircraft Company, which produced the C-54 military transport aircraft.
It was later renamed to honor Edward O’Hare, the first Navy Medal of Honor recipient during the Second World War.
One of the first major airports to be extensively built up in the years following the Second World War, Chicago-O’Hare features multiple concourses as well as direct access to a highway.
The facility also offers jet bridges and underground refueling systems, all of which support efficient and rapidly growing aircraft operations.
During the 1960s and 1970s, O’Hare began to cement its status as one of the world’s most important transportation hubs, as it was the world’s busiest airport by passenger traffic during the period from 1963 to 1998.
In 2019, the facility recorded more than 900,000 aircraft movements, which evened out to an average exceeding 2,500 per day.
The airport’s development has been consistently driven by the expansion of its regional network, mostly by carriers like United Express and American Eagle.
With efficient ground transportation links to the city and its financial districts, the airport serves as a key gateway for business travel.
Today, the airport is a major hub for American Airlines and United Airlines, both of which cater to business travelers.
It also serves as an operating base for Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines, which both focus principally on serving leisure travelers.
A deeper look at United’s presence at Chicago-O’Hare: Chicago-O’Hare has served as a major hub for both American Airlines and United Airlines for decades, each of which has made a major contribution to the facility’s development.
Upon the arrival of the jet age, airlines began to shift their operations away from Chicago Midway Airport (MDW), due to the need to use longer runways at O’Hare.
Since then, United and American have continued to expand their presence at the facility to the point that they are both dominant players today.
In the early years of the facility’s growth, with scheduled passenger flights beginning for the first time in 1955, these two carriers have been key pieces of the airport’s development.
The two airlines have continued to duke it out over the decades to capture a large share of the market at this lucrative travel hub.
United Airlines greatly expanded its presence at O’Hare through a large-scale modernization scheme during the 1980s.
The carrier built a new two-concourse terminal, which would become known as “The Terminal for Tomorrow” and was engineered by Helmut Jahn, a renowned architect.
The facility was completed between 1985 and 1987, with the airport featuring innovative curved glass, a modernized layout, and a capable tunnel system linking Concourses B and C.
These technological and infrastructure advancements were a key piece of United’s growth strategy and served as a principal catalyst for the airline’s continued expansion.
Get all the latest aviation news for North America from Simple Flying!
A deeper look at American’s presence at Chicago-O’Hare: American Airlines has also gradually expanded its presence at the facility over the last few decades.
Much like United, the carrier also recognized the need to significantly update its facilities at the airport following the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978.
The carrier renovated and expanded its facilities at Terminal 3 between 1987 and 1990, with a new flag-filled entrance hall and upgrades to Concourses H and K, from which most of the airline’s flights operate.
This extensive investment helped American Airlines enhance its competitive capabilities at the airport, helping support its growth in both domestic and international markets.
Both carriers have continued to expand their presence at the facility, and they have sought to capitalize on a broad array of technological advancements.
Furthermore, they have used airline deregulation as a catalyst for growth that has continued over the next fifty years.
These two airlines are the principal reasons why Chicago-O’Hare is effectively connected to the rest of the globe today.
What does the competition between American and United look like at O’Hare today?
There are a few ways to examine which carrier is currently coming out on top in the head-to-head competition at Chicago-O’Hare today.
The first way to look at this is by analyzing which of the airlines has the largest market share.
According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, here are the airline market shares at Chicago-O’Hare:
As we can see, United Airlines is currently coming out on top.
Not only is the airline serving more passengers each year (around 10 million more fly on United flights through the airport than on American flights), but this number is only continuing to grow.
United Airlines currently operates flights to far more destinations than American does from the facility.
The carrier is even currently pressing to get more gates at the airport, with a United Airlines spokesperson sharing as follows with Simple Flying:
“In January, the airline filed paperwork with the City of Chicago to expand its footprint at its hometown hub of O’Hare.
Under the 2018 use and lease agreement that governs the airport, O’Hare’s gates are reallocated based on how many flights each carrier flew in the prior year.
Since United has been growing at O’Hare, it will gain six gates, which are currently being used by other airlines.”
image source from：https://simpleflying.com/american-airlines-united-airlines-competition-chicago/
