Hold your seatbelts mounted.
The spring break journey season is projected to be busier than final yr, with an estimated 2.9 million folks flying by Chicago’s airports.
O’Hare Airport expects 7% extra vacationers over final yr between March 21 and April 1, in response to the Chicago Division of Aviation.
Halfway Airport might see 2.4% extra passengers over this yr’s spring break interval, which coincides with Holy Week celebrations, Easter and spring break for Chicago Public Faculties.
March 28 is projected to be the busiest journey day at each airports, the division mentioned.
Transit officers on Thursday reminded vacationers to organize for potential delays by arriving early, utilizing public transit to keep away from automobile backups, and to verify parking availability on-line.
It is vital to recollect since Chicago’s airports are partially again to pre-pandemic journey volumes, in response to Aviation Division information.
Halfway is busier than it was earlier than COVID-19. The airport recorded 22 million passengers final yr, surpassing the 20 million in 2019, in response to Aviation Division information.
O’Hare continues to be lagging. The transit hub noticed 73 million passengers in 2023, significantly lower than the 84 million that handed by its gates in 2019.
Nonetheless, traveler quantity is larger than within the 2020 hunch yr, when O’Hare noticed 30 million passengers and Halfway noticed 8 million.
Vacationers seeking to keep away from the crowds and delays might need to think about touring on weekdays. A latest survey discovered {that a} quarter of flights have been delayed on weekends throughout spring break. Weekdays — particularly Tuesdays — had the fewest delayed flights.
The identical survey discovered that Halfway ranks 4th nationally because the airport with the most important share of delayed flights throughout spring break. About 32% of the airport’s flights have been delayed greater than quarter-hour. Delays averaged 50 minutes.
O’Hare noticed a decrease proportion of delayed flights, 18%, however the common delay was 1 hour and 11 minutes. Airports nationally averaged a 21% share of delayed flights, averaging 1 hour and eight minutes.
