Fly To Chicago’s Most Underrated Airport As an alternative

As one of many largest cities in the USA, Chicago has lengthy served as a central hub for home and worldwide air journey. Its geographic location, which connects the East and West Coasts, helped set up it early on as a important node within the nation’s aviation community.

Chicago O’Hare Worldwide Airport finally rose to dominate that function and has turn out to be a significant international gateway as a result of its scale, runway capability, and airline connectivity. At the moment, it ranks among the many busiest airports on the planet and serves as a key base for American and worldwide carriers. However earlier than O’Hare existed, Chicago’s aviation identification revolved round one other airport: Chicago Municipal Airport, aka Chicago Halfway Airport.

Halfway began operations within the earliest years of business aviation, solely a decade after the world’s first scheduled passenger flight, which took off in 1914. For a number of a long time, it was the first airport for Chicago and ranked among the many world’s busiest. It hosted tens of millions of passengers every year through the peak of its operations within the mid-Twentieth century.

Chicago Halfway Airport Nonetheless Holds Its Floor

Although O’Hare might have lengthy claimed the highlight as Chicago’s main worldwide hub, Halfway continues to play a central function within the metropolis’s air transport system. It’s positioned simply eight miles southwest of downtown Chicago. This makes it a most well-liked selection for a lot of vacationers searching for shorter commutes (as a drive to the town middle often takes solely 20–25 minutes), fewer delays, and sooner terminal entry.

At present, Halfway Worldwide Airport capabilities as a significant base for Southwest Airways, which accounts for almost all of the airport’s site visitors. Over time, it has additionally attracted a rising mixture of low-cost and legacy carriers and supplies nonstop flights to key home locations. In contrast to O’Hare, which spans over 7,600 acres and has a number of terminals, Halfway operates inside a compact 775.4-acre website. It has 5 runways and a single terminal with 43 gates.

This ends in a simplified passenger expertise, with shorter strolling distances and a extra navigable terminal structure that appeals to frequent home flyers. That being stated, its restricted scale can pose challenges throughout peak journey durations, particularly round holidays, when heavy site visitors and lengthy queues sometimes stretch the airport’s capability.

Temporary Historical past Of Chicago Halfway Airport

Halfway Airport opened in 1926, and common operations started the next 12 months with the arrival of an airmail flight from Omaha. The airport rapidly established itself as a key aviation facility. It dealt with over 40,000 passengers in 1928, supported greater than 14,000 flights, and added new hangars, paved runways, taxiways, and airfield lighting to allow night operations.

By 1929, it had already turn out to be the busiest airport within the United States, and within the years that adopted, its infrastructure grew to match its scale. All through the Nineteen Thirties and into the early Nineteen Forties, the airport noticed continued progress in each flight quantity and amenities. The primary nonstop flight to New York started in 1936, and by 1941, the airfield performed a task in supporting army actions as the USA entered World Warfare II.

Throughout this time, it accommodated bigger plane just like the B-17 Flying Fortress and served as an important transport hyperlink. After the battle, main carriers resembling TWA, Pan Am, and American Abroad started launching transatlantic routes from the airport. These developments helped place Halfway as one of the crucial vital airports within the nation through the early a long time of business aviation.

As O’Hare Grew, Halfway Confronted A Altering Future

Nevertheless, Halfway’s dominance started to shift in 1955, when the passenger service launched on the newly developed O’Hare Worldwide Airport. On the time, O’Hare’s longer runways, bigger footprint, and skill to accommodate rising airline operations made it more and more engaging to carriers, and by 1961, it had overtaken Halfway in industrial site visitors.

Most main airways shifted their operations to the newer facility, and in 1962, United Airways, which was the primary airline to ascertain companies at Halfway, operated its last scheduled departure from the airport. Regardless of this downturn, the airport noticed transient durations of renewed exercise. United returned in 1964, and a multi-million-dollar redevelopment of the North Terminal in 1967 added three concourses and 28 gates. A number of different main carriers, together with American Airways, Delta Air Traces, Jap, and TWA, reinstated operations the next 12 months.

Passenger site visitors on the airport rebounded to over 1.6 million in 1968. However the restoration was short-lived. And by 1973, a mix of financial elements, together with the oil disaster, prompted practically all main airways to withdraw once more and shift operations to O’Hare. Within the late Nineteen Seventies, nevertheless, with the deregulation of the US airline trade, the brand new coverage opened route entry to smaller carriers and led to the creation of Halfway Airways in 1979, which used Halfway as its base.

It supplied low-fare service to underserved cities like Kansas Metropolis, Detroit, and Cleveland. Different carriers adopted, together with Northwest, which returned in 1980. In 1981, a $200 million improvement plan was introduced, which helped modernize the power. By the early Nineties, Southwest Airways had firmly established itself at Halfway, bringing in new routes and growing each day frequencies.

How Has Halfway Advanced In Current Years?

Following its rebound within the Nineties, Halfway entered a sustained interval of redevelopment that reworked it into one of the crucial environment friendly and passenger-friendly airports within the nation. In 1996, then-Mayor Richard M. Daley introduced the Halfway Airport Terminal Improvement Program, the most important public works venture in Illinois on the time.

And the subsequent a number of years introduced main Infrastructure upgrades, together with the opening of a multi-level parking storage in 1999 and a pedestrian bridge over Cicero Avenue in 2000, linking the terminal to the concourses. In 2001, the airport’s new terminal opened to the general public, which supplied expanded ticketing areas, bigger baggage declare halls, and an up to date meals courtroom with Chicago-style eating choices.

This was adopted by the return of worldwide flights in 2002, supported by the addition of a Federal Inspection Service facility. Over the subsequent 20 years, additional enhancements continued. A big-scale financial system storage opened in 2005, and engineered arrestor beds have been put in throughout runways to boost security in case of plane overruns. Moreover, in 2015, the Halfway Modernization Program (MMP) was introduced, which introduced extra upgrades.

These included a considerably widened safety checkpoint bridge, a redesigned Central Market, and the debut of The Membership MDW final 12 months, the airport’s first shared-use lounge. Now, the airport caters to greater than 20 million passengers yearly and connects Chicago to greater than 80 locations, together with round 75 home and 9 worldwide, and presents TSA PreCheck lanes and Automated Passport Management kiosks (just for American and Canadian passport holders) for sooner screening and entry processing.

Which Airways Function From Chicago Halfway Airport?

Halfway Airport at present sees companies from a mixture of low-cost carriers, regional operators, and a world airline. These embody Southwest, Frontier, Volaris, Porter Airways, Allegiant Air, Avelo Airways, in addition to SkyWest and Endeavor Air, which function regional flights on behalf of Delta Air Traces.

As well as, Delta is the one main US service with scheduled mainline operations at Halfway. Airways are distributed throughout all three concourses. Southwest occupies most gates in Concourses A and B. Delta, Porter, and Volaris additionally use Concourse A, whereas Avelo and Frontier function from Concourse C.

Though smaller in scale than O’Hare, Halfway supplies nonstop service to a broad vary of home locations, in addition to choose worldwide routes. As of Might 2025, it supplied direct service to 9 worldwide locations, together with Cancun, Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, Durango, Leon, and Toronto. ​Southwest is by far the airport’s largest operator and makes use of Halfway as the primary hub for its most home operations.

In accordance with scheduled information from aviation analytics agency Cirium, Southwest is anticipated to function greater than 69,000 flights from the airport in 2025, greater than another airport in its community. It connects Chicago to a variety of cities throughout the nation, with frequent companies to Phoenix, Las Vegas, Denver, Orlando, Dallas, New York, and Los Angeles, amongst others.

Halfway Presents A Sensible Various For US Flyers

Halfway Worldwide Airport might not be the town’s main gateway, but it surely continues to supply a powerful different, particularly for home passengers. Its function as a significant hub for Southwest Airways offers vacationers entry to a large community of US locations, supported by excessive each day frequencies and a simplified boarding expertise.

So, for these prioritizing comfort and velocity over long-haul connectivity, Halfway supplies a sensible and environment friendly possibility. The airport’s smaller footprint interprets to shorter safety traces, faster terminal navigation, and sooner floor entry. Moreover, its location simply eight miles from downtown makes it particularly interesting for time-sensitive journey, together with brief enterprise journeys, weekend visits, and household journey.

Whereas Halfway presents fewer worldwide flights than O’Hare, it helps common short-haul routes to locations throughout Mexico and Canada and continues to increase its facilities by way of phased modernization efforts. For tens of millions of vacationers every year, it has turn out to be a most well-liked different.