How United Airlines Is Squeezing A Record 650 Daily Flights Out Of O'Hare's FAA-Capped Schedule

United Airlines is advertising a record summer schedule at Chicago O’Hare despite FAA limits on daily airport operations. The carrier says it will fly up to 650 daily flights to 222 nonstop destinations from ORD, including 47 international routes. That push arrives as the FAA cut O’Hare’s total daily operations ceiling by 12% to 2,708, down from 3,080 originally filed for summer 2026, with the cap set to run through October 30, 2027 due to construction under the ORDNext program. With slots measured by arrivals and departures, not seats, United plans to offset fewer slots by “upgauging” to larger aircraft.