American Airlines and United Airlines are the carriers most affected by the summertime capacity cap, at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, but they're taking different strategies to manage the federal mandate.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is allowing 2,708 daily operations between May 17 and Oct. 24, down from the 3,080 flights that were planned by all carriers, a flight cap announced in April.
Prior to the FAA decision, American and United had planned to significantly expand their O'Hare operations for the summer season compared with 2025, with United announcing about 750 daily flights, and American planning for more than 500, in an effort to gain or retain gates at the airport.
Since the cap announcement, United—which is based in Chicago—cut about 100 flights per day from its previously published schedule and now will operate roughly 650 daily departures at O'Hare, according to an internal memo from United VP of O'Hare Omar Idris. That figure still puts United ahead of its 2025 O'Hare summer season departures by 11 percent. The carrier also will fly 13 percent more seats year over year "by using a larger mix of mainline aircraft," according to the memo.
American, however, maintains that its O'Hare daily departures still will exceed 500.
"American's operation this summer is going to be 525 departures [per day] from O'Hare," American vice chair and chief strategy officer Steve Johnson said at a BTN event held May 20 in Chicago. "There's a lot of discussion around Chicago [and] about there being only one carrier or it being that it's only a matter of time before American leaves. I just want to confirm … that's not accurate. Chicago is a very important market to American, and one that we have devoted a ton of resources to."
Johnson likely was referring to comments made by United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby in recent months, including a fourth-quarter earnings call during which Kirby stated that American lost $500 million at O'Hare in 2025 and that United has gained market share at American's expense.
Johnson also noted that American is grateful for "the work that the Department of Transportation and the FAA did in stabilizing things at O'Hare for this coming summer," he said, but added that "we've got some work to do to figure out how we manage O'Hare and maintain that dual hub structure going on in the future."
By the Numbers
Aviation analytics company Cirium provided data for American and United in terms of their O'Hare summer flights for June through October filed as of May 21 versus what was filed as of April 24. United has reduced its capacity as measured in available seat miles for that period by 3.4 percent, but American has increased its capacity by 1.2 percent.
In terms of flights, United as of May 21 planned to operate 98,935 O'Hare flights between June and October, down 14.8 percent from those filed as of April 24. American has reduced its flights for that period by 770, or 1 percent, to 76,980.
Combined by month, the carriers as of May 21 have reduced their O'Hare capacity from April 24 by 3 percent in June, 3.7 percent in July, 2.4 percent in August and 1.4 percent in September. For October, the combined change is up 2.5 percent.
A look at specific markets shows that long-haul flights, particularly international, for either carrier have not been affected much. Some domestic routes, however, will see some steep declines.
For United, the Cirium data shows it has cut capacity from O'Hare by 100 percent for June through September and by 77 percent in October for the following destinations:
- Kalamazoo Battle Creek International Airport and Capital Region International Airport (Lansing) in Michigan
- La Crosse Regional Airport in Wisconsin
- Rochester International Airport in Minnesota
- Erie International Airport in Pennsylvania
- Tri-Cities Airport in Blountville, Tenn.
- Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee, Wisc.
- Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington, Ill.
Other airports with significant capacity cuts by United include:
- Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport in Michigan by 100 percent through September and 80 percent in October
- Billings Logan International Airport in Montana by 100 percent in each June, July and September, by 90 percent in August and by 77 percent in October
- Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Ky., by 40 percent per month through September and 12 percent in October
- Norfolk International Airport in Virginia by an average of nearly 39 percent each month
- Huntsville International Airport in Alabama by an average of more than 37 percent per month
- Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport by more than 35 percent per month through September then by less than 1 percent in October
- Piedmont Triad International Airport in North Carolina by an average of 32 percent per month
- Albuquerque International Sunport in New Mexico by an average of 23 percent per month
The data show that American had fewer destinations affected and by smaller percentages. Though there was some overlap with United's cuts, such as in Albuquerque, Kalamazoo, Billings and Marquette.
Some of the key airports with capacity cuts by American from O'Hare for June through October include:
- Albuquerque International Sunport by an average of 42 percent per month June through August, then 12 percent in September and no cuts in October
- Billings Logan International Airport by 39 percent in August, 13 percent in September and 78 percent in September
- Chattanooga Airport in Tennessee by 39 percent in June, 50 percent in July, and 13 percent in August
- Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport by 44 percent in August, 13 percent in September and 6 percent in October
- Kalamazoo Battle Creek International Airport by an average of 32 percent for June through August, then by 9 percent in September
- Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport by 31 percent in June, 33 percent in July and 14 percent in August
- Flint Bishop International Airport in Michigan by an average of 32 percent per month for June through August
- St. Louis Lambert International Airport in Missouri by 26 percent June through August
- Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Kentucky by more than 23 percent June through August
- Dayton International Airport in Ohio by an average of 23 percent per month for June, July and October