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American Airlines wants you to know it is committed to Chicago.<\/p>\n
Asked at an investor conference on Thursday about the carrier’s plans in the Windy City, Chief Financial Officer Devon May emphasized Chicago’s importance to American. Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD) was \u2014 and is \u2014 its third-largest hub, he said repeatedly.<\/p>\n
Up until 2020 and the coronavirus pandemic, the carrier operated some 500 daily departures out of the Midwest airport.<\/p>\n
“This year, we’re growing back Chicago,” May said. “We have a huge customer base there\u2026 [and] we feel really good about the growth opportunities.”<\/p>\n
American recently unveiled seven new or returning routes<\/a> from Chicago O’Hare, including to Curacao International Airport (CUR), Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport (ROA) in Virginia, and St. Maarten’s Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM). That’s on top of long-haul additions this summer<\/a> like Naples International Airport (NAP) in Italy.<\/p>\n The airline will operate an average of 468 daily departures from O’Hare in June, July and August, schedule data from aviation analytics firm Cirium shows.<\/p>\n American has long boasted a hub at O’Hare. Since the early 1980s, it has competed fiercely with hometown United Airlines for dominance at the airport \u2014 and the city \u2014 including playing a prominent role in the iconic Chicago holiday movie, Home Alone.<\/p>\n But recent months have seen the airline’s executives be especially vocal about the its Chicago presence; it was a prominent topic on the carrier’s most recent earnings call.<\/a><\/p>\n Prior to the pandemic, American was focused on growing three hubs, none of which were O’Hare.<\/p>\n Daily Newsletter<\/p>\n Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter<\/p>\n Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG\u2019s experts<\/p>\nA longtime hub<\/h2>\n