Chicago O'Hare International Airport

The organisation operates Chicago O'Hare International Airport and Chicago Midway International Airport, the two primary commercial airports serving the Chicago metropolitan area. These airports provide passenger and cargo air travel facilities, including terminals, runways, ground transportation connections, and ancillary services such as retail, dining, and parking. O'Hare functions as a major international gateway and a hub for several network carriers, while Midway primarily handles domestic traffic and serves as a focus point for low‑cost carriers. Together they support the region’s connectivity to destinations across the United States and around the world.

O'Hare consistently ranks among the busiest airports in the United States and globally, handling a high volume of aircraft movements and passenger traffic each year. Its extensive airfield includes multiple parallel runways that enable simultaneous arrivals and departures, contributing to its capacity to manage large numbers of flights. Midway, while smaller in scale, still accommodates a significant number of passengers and serves as an important alternative for travelers seeking convenient access to the city’s southwest side. Both airports contribute substantially to the regional economy by supporting aviation‑related employment, tourism, and business activity.

The airports are owned by the City of Chicago and operated under the Chicago Department of Aviation, a municipal agency responsible for their management, maintenance, and development. O'Hare is a primary hub for United Airlines and American Airlines, offering extensive domestic and international route networks, and it hosts numerous cargo carriers that move freight across continents. Midway is historically notable as the city’s first major airport and remains a key operating base for Southwest Airlines, which schedules a large proportion of its flights from there. Regulatory oversight comes from the Federal Aviation Administration, which ensures compliance with safety, security, and air traffic control standards at both facilities.

In October 2022, a pro‑Russian hacker group known as Killnet launched distributed denial‑of‑service attacks against the public‑facing websites of several U.S. airports, including those of Chicago O'Hare and Midway. The attacks temporarily disrupted online access to flight information portals that display wait times, gate assignments, and congestion data, but they did not affect internal systems, air traffic control, security operations, or actual flight schedules. Cybersecurity agencies traced the traffic to sources within Russia, although no direct evidence of state sponsorship was found. The incident highlighted the visibility of airport websites as targets for disruptive cyber activity while confirming that core operational infrastructure remained secure.