The airport saw 73.9 million passengers in 2023(Image: (Image: Getty))

Inside jaw dropping airport that stretches 12 miles wide - and has six more runways than Heathrow

Chicago O'Hare International Airport is a major airport in the United States which was opened in 1955 and spans 7,627 acres

by · The Mirror

Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD), a titan of the skies, sprawls across an impressive 7,627 acres - and boasts a huge six more runways than Heathrow.

Since its grand opening in 1955 with a construction cost of £4.6 million – a figure that inflates to around £48.6 million in today's money – it has grown to become the US's fourth busiest and seventh largest airport.

It boasts non-stop flights to 249 destinations across North America, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the North Atlantic region. With its extensive list of destinations and a record-breaking eight runways, ORD is hailed as the most connected airport in the US and ranks fifth globally.

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Chicago O'hare is one of the world's most connected airports( Image: (Image: Getty))

The runway design includes six parallel and two crosswind options, enabling three aircraft to land at once. O'Hare shot to fame in the jet age, holding the crown for "world's busiest airport by passenger traffic" from 1963 to 1998.

In 2023, it remains a hub of activity, with 73.9 million passengers passing through. Back in 2019, the airport saw 919,704 aircraft movements, averaging 2,250 daily – the highest of any airport worldwide, partly due to numerous regional flights.

Now, ORD is undergoing a colossal £7bn revamp as part of the O'Hare 21 project, first announced in 2018. However, by November, costs had soared past initial estimates, prompting major carriers American Airlines and United Airlines to demand the global terminal project be either cancelled or downsized, reports the Express.

The project, now agreed with the City of Chicago, seeks to increase the airport's capacity to create a "global alliance hub" by building a new international terminal, renovating and expanding Terminal 5, and adding two new satellite concourses to increase gate capacity.