Delta Air Lines on Oct. 12 will move its Chicago O’Hare International Airport operations to Terminal 5 from Terminal 2, the carrier confirmed.
The move is part of a $1 billion expansion and renovation project “nearing completion at Terminal 5, where we have already opened seven new permanent gates since June,” Chicago Department of Aviation commissioner Jamie Rhee said in a statement. The CDA announced the Delta news on Wednesday.
Delta will use the newly renovated M2 to M11 gates in the terminal’s western concourse, according to the CDA. The carrier’s current eight gates in Concourse E at Terminal 2 will be reallocated to United Airlines, which will take gates E7 to E14, and to Alaska Airlines, which will use gates E15 and E17.
The existing Delta Sky Club near gate E6 in Terminal 2 will close on Oct. 11. Delta’s new Sky Club in Terminal 5, located between gates M11 and M14, will open on Oct. 12 as well, according to Delta. It will have a capacity of nearly 400, approximately four times the capacity of the current club.
Additional Terminal 5 Developments
When complete, the Terminal 5 expansion will increase the terminal’s gate capacity by 25 percent, increase passenger amenity space by approximately 85 percent, replace the nearly 30-year-old baggage handling system, provide reconfigured customs and immigration facilities, and increase the number of U.S. Transportation Security Administration checkpoint lanes to 13, according to the CDA.
The Chicago agency also broke ground on a six-story parking garage for Terminal 5 that will include more than double the number of spaces available. The garage, scheduled to be completed in 2024, will replace the current surface Lot D.
Lot D parking is limited during this work. The CDA suggested that Delta and other customers for Terminal 5-based airlines park in the main parking garage or in an economy lot and transfer to Terminal 5 on the Airport Transit System.