Chicago airports blame reduced flights on fuel costs

The latest announcements on flights reductions into and out of Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports have not come as a surprise to passengers, according to recent reports.

The rising cost of fuel and the weakening American economy have been listed as the main reasons that numbers at O’Hare International Airport have declined by 4.2 percent during the first half of 2008, industry experts commented. Arrivals and departures at O’Hare Departures dropped from 461,661 during the first six months of 2007 to 442,136 in the same period this year, according to a report released by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration this past week.

Chicago’s Midway Airport experienced an even steeper drop of 9.6 percent. The actual figures showed 151,414 flights for the period at Midway in 2007, as compared to 136,827 during the first six months in 2008.

Of the five major U.S. airports, O’Hare was hit the hardest. Denver International Airport showed a growth of 3.2 percent in the number of flights for the period.

United Airlines officials have been reported as saying that the numbers aren’t surprising. United, which is based at O’Hare, is retiring 100 aircraft from service and reducing its domestic capacity by around 16.5 percent.

“This is related to the spike in fuel costs,” commented a United spokeswoman, Megan McCarthy.

American Airlines is also in the process of reducing capacity at O’Hare and other airports as well.

www.faa.gov