O'Hare International Airport

Chicago O'Hare International Airport (IATA: ORD, ICAO: KORD, FAA LID: ORD) is the primary international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, United States. Located on the city’s Northwest Side about 17 miles (27 km) northwest of downtown, it is operated by the Chicago Department of Aviation and covers 7,627 acres (30.87 km²). O'Hare is notable for having eight runways, the most of any airport in the world.

The airport began during World War II as an airfield serving a Douglas manufacturing plant for C-54 military transports. It was renamed Orchard Field Airport in the mid-1940s, receiving the code ORD, and was renamed again in 1949 for aviator Edward O'Hare, the U.S. Navy’s first Medal of Honor recipient of World War II. As the first major airport planned after the war, O'Hare introduced influential design features such as concourses, direct highway access to the terminal, jet bridges, and underground refueling systems.

O'Hare became a major symbol of the jet age and was the world’s busiest airport by passenger traffic from 1963 to 1998. It remains one of the busiest airports globally and in 2025 recorded more than 857,000 aircraft movements. It offers nonstop service to hundreds of destinations across North America, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the North Atlantic region. The airport is a major hub for American Airlines and United Airlines, and an operating base for Frontier Airlines.