The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is proposing capping the number of daily summer operations at Chicago O'Hare at 2,800, similar to the number the hub currently facilitates.

The measure is being proposed to address the possibility of overscheduling at the airport by United Airlines and American Airlines. However, the FAA met with the carriers on March 4 to discuss the flight restrictions without any clear agreement. The parties are set to reconvene, possibly in the second week of March, Reuters reported.

Both the FAA and the US Department of Transportation (DOT) have determined that the proposed increase in operations at O’Hare will exceed the airport’s capacity throughout the summer 2026 scheduling season, between March 29 and October 25. Currently, published schedules exceed 3,080 daily operations on peak days, compared to around 2,680 total operations last summer season.

“This proposed increase is significant and would stress the runway, terminal, and air traffic control systems at the airport,” the FAA said, adding that O’Hare facilitates about 100 hourly departures and arrivals respectively. This level of operations is manageable given the current infrastructure and staffing resources available.

“FAA proposes adopting these same limits throughout the Summer 2026 Scheduling Season to prevent large-scale operational disruption while also allowing air carriers to operate within the airport’s demonstrated manageable capacity,” it added.

United and American are currently in the midst of a turf war at Chicago O’Hare. In 2018, airlines and the airport agreed on a “linear frontage” method to allocate gates, deploying a use-it-or-lose-it formula. After the COVID-19 pandemic, American lost five gates, with United gaining a roughly equal number.

American expected to regain three gates in 2026. However, United said it would draw a “line in the sand” and not allow its biggest rival win a single gate at its expense. “We are going to add as many flights as are required to make sure that we keep our gate count the same in Chicago,” chief executive Scott Kirby declared.

These remarks prompted American to accuse United of scheming to overschedule the airport “to manipulate a provision which was meant to promote competition,” COO David Seyomur and CCO Nathaniel Pieper told staff in a memo.

According to ch-aviation schedules data, United accounts for 47.2% of the weekly capacity at O’Hare, while American has 33.9%.

In a statement to ch-aviation earlier this week, United said it shared a commitment with the US government “to running a safe and reliable operation out of ORD and look forward to a collaborative discussion.” American Airlines was not immediately available at the time of going to press.