After being slow to rebuild its Chicago O'Hare hub following the pandemic, American Airlines has turned a page. By March, the carrier will have increased its O'Hare flying by 34% compared to last year, setting off a pitched battle with the airport's larger hub operator, United. Airlines editor Robert Silk spoke with American's vice president of O'Hare operations, Ben Humphrey, about the airline's Chicago build-up.
Ben Humphrey
Q: Why are you growing so aggressively at O'Hare?
A: First and foremost, we've been in Chicago for 70-plus years. ... When you look at our overall global network, Chicago is our access point to the upper Midwest. We want to grow that.
Q: United has advantages there. They're bigger, their passenger yields are significantly more than yours. How do you overcome or reverse those dynamics?
A: I think one way is a consistent product. Locally, our game plan is to wow the customer with service. So, better on-time performance, better bag performance, a more polite and welcoming environment than the competition.
Q: Across the network, American has put a bigger emphasis over the past year on the customer experience. What are you doing at O'Hare in that respect?
A: Last year we introduced new kiosks. They are so much faster than our older kiosks. The user interface is more friendly, and it allows people to get through our lobby quicker. We also have technology that helps us make sure folks board when they are supposed to board, which is appreciated by our premium customers. We took our newest and most luxurious 787 aircraft and put those into Chicago first. We also deployed technology that uses AI to better connect late inbound aircraft. Where historically we may not have held flights, AI helps us determine if there really is a down-line problem, and if there is, we're making sure we facilitate those connections more.
Q: Anything else?
A: Gates are at a premium in Chicago, so we've been taking our existing footprint and getting creative with some gate solutions as well as [taxiing] alleyways. For example, one of our alleys in the L Concourse used to be a single taxi lane. We basically sucked in the planes at the gate to create enough space to have a dual alleyway, which allows parallel operations. Example number two is with our existing gating footprint. We have widebody gates, which take up more room than narrowbody and regional, but in the mornings when we operate widebodies less, we've created a narrowbody configuration that gives us another opportunity to park other aircraft.
Q: Your O'Hare widebody operation is especially smaller than United's, especially in winter. What are your plans in that respect?
A: In the wintertime, we know that's an opportunity for growth. Some of our existing cities that are seasonal, we're extending the season. So that basically means more seats going over the [Atlantic]. You'll see that continue. Let's not forget about our partners, too. We have great partnerships with British Airways, Iberia and JAL. With the combination of our partners and American Airlines, we have a very large presence, and we're working on making that presence grow even larger. The number one constraint [is gates] right now, but we're in the process of figuring that out.
Q: United announced its own plans to push back at O'Hare by accelerating its own growth. I guess that didn't surprise you.
A: Yeah, we're not surprised by it. United is going to grow. We're going to grow. What it means for Chicagoans is more choices. And we want people to try American for the first time or come back to American or continue flying American.