American Airlines Expands In Chicago With 100 New Daily Departures In Spring 2026

American Airlines is taking its ongoing expansion in Chicago to the next level with 100 new daily departures from O’Hare International Airport (ORD) — bolstering its schedule with additional flights to more than 75 popular destinations just in time for spring break. The airline’s largest ORD spring schedule on record enhances the strongest network in the U.S. and means more for American’s customers: more flights, more choices, more popular destinations and more opportunities to see the world. Additionally, the airline is expanding its summer seasonal service from ORD to two sought-after European destinations: Paris and Dublin. It’s the latest in American’s comprehensive expansion plan that has already enhanced the customer experience, improved operational reliability and deepened its century-long roots in the Chicago community.

“We’re committed to rebuilding our Chicago hub to be stronger and more compelling for our customers, and our 2026 plans are both emblematic of that objective and an exciting way to end a year defined by bold growth and investment at ORD,” said Steve Johnson, American’s Vice Chair and Chief Strategy Officer. “Our continued focus on Chicago during the next year — a year that we celebrate the centennial of American and our 100th year of service at ORD — will make our network even more attractive and continue to enhance the travel experience, improve reliability and introduce more premium options for our customers. Strategic investments at O’Hare in 2025 set the stage for a record-breaking 2026, reflecting our unwavering commitment to our customers, team members and the Chicagoland communities we serve, as well as our long-standing legacy to Chicago and O’Hare — and to our shared future.”

American’s largest-ever ORD spring operation gives Chicago travelers more options to reach top destinations across its global network while boosting tourism to the city and offering more customers a convenient one-stop connection through ORD.

The airline is adding 100 peak daily departures to its spring schedule with increased service in 75 markets, including Boston (BOS); Cincinnati, Ohio (CVG); Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW); Fort Myers, Florida (RSW); and Orlando, Florida (MCO). The airline is doubling its service from ORD to popular spring break destinations like Las Vegas (LAS); Panama City, Florida (ECP); and Sarasota, Florida (SRQ), as well as well as offering more than twice as much service from ORD to Savannah, Georgia (SAV), and San Francisco (SFO) than what was originally available for spring 2026.

This expansion brings peak ORD operations to more than 500 daily departures this spring, representing 30% more departures than last spring. Reaching 500 peak daily departures solidifies ORD’s spot as the third-largest hub in American's global network and among the top 10 largest hub operations of all major U.S. carriers. It also extends its spot as the fastest-growing legacy airline hub this year.

These additional flights are now available for purchase through American’s mobile app or aa.com.

The airline announced the extension of summer seasonal service from ORD to Dublin to operate about a month longer and Paris to operate three months longer than previous seasons. The extended seasonal service is part of American’s globe-spanning international network connecting customers with the airline’s best-in-class group of global partners.

American kicked off a major expansion at ORD in summer 2025 with 20% more flights and 22% more seats compared to the 2024 summer schedule. Since then, the airline added nearly 30 new destinations to its ORD network, including Honolulu (HNL), Mexico City (MEX), Madrid (MAD) and Chicago’s only nonstop service to Naples, Italy (NAP). Additionally, the airline doubled service to warm weather destinations this winter in Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America — making American the leading carrier from ORD to the region — and increased frequencies to traditional business markets like Seattle (SEA), Houston (IAH), Fayetteville/Bentonville, Arkansas (XNA), and more to provide customers more flexibility.

Airline hubs act as “connection factories,” driving economic growth and business development in their home cities while strengthening regional communities with crucial air service. They multiply travel opportunities for business and leisure by offering convenient one-stop connections, creating a ripple effect that fuels local economies, generates jobs and gives customers more choices.

American’s recent expansion at ORD delivers on that promise, bringing more tourism and business opportunities to Chicago while giving travelers in smaller markets access to a vast global network and unmatched flexibility. With added service to destinations like Cedar Rapids, Iowa (CID); Bloomington, Illinois (BMI); Flint, Michigan (FNT); and more, American’s ORD hub opens doors for customers, helping them expand business reach and make long-haul travel a reality.

As the nation’s largest dual-hub airport, ORD has long thrived on strong competition among hub carriers, which keeps fares lower and doubles options for travelers. With three new peak daily flights to SFO and Cleveland (CLE) and two to Denver (DEN), customers now have even more ways to travel to, from and through Chicago, and, importantly, they have more choice.

Travel experience upgrades draw customer loyalty

American’s expansion goes beyond adding flights through a comprehensive strategy to secure American’s position as the airline of choice at ORD. Chicago travelers are responding to American’s enhanced focus on customer experience that spans every facet of the travel journey. In the third quarter, enrollments in American’s industry-leading AAdvantage® loyalty program grew 7% systemwide year over year, with Chicago leading the way at approximately 20% growth, more than double the system average.

Customer-first commitment: This year, American renewed its focus on the customer experience with a holistic look at the travel journey. Enhancements include a redesigned mobile app, connection-saving technology and the new premium-configured Boeing 787-9 aircraft that is becoming the mainstay of American’s Chicago-London service. A more reliable operation: Strategic investments in operational performance — including the airline’s new boarding process, new devices and initiatives that improve baggage handling and technology that streamlines aircraft pushback — have contributed to a more reliable operation at ORD. American was the most on-time hub carrier at ORD this year. New gates fuel ongoing growth: American recently made a significant investment in its operational presence at ORD with the acquisition of two new gates, which made way for three new destinations, resulting in 29 destinations added to ORD in 2025.

More premium options: After upgrading all flights to operate on dual-class regional jets, American is the only hub carrier to offer premium options on every flight from ORD.

Reimagined United Polaris® Lounge Opens In Chicago With 50% More Space And Crate & Barrel Decor

United has opened its newly renovated and expanded United Polaris lounge at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, offering travelers more space, a modern design and elevated amenities. The United Polaris lounge in Chicago is now 50% larger and features nearly 25,000 sq.-ft. of lounge space, including more than 350 seats for travelers, 50 seats across a larger dining space, a second bar, six additional restrooms, private spaces for relaxation or work, and a range of products curated along with Crate & Barrel – the first and only airline collaboration for the whole home retailer.

United was the first U.S. airline to debut a premium lounge exclusively for international business class travelers with the launch of the United Polaris lounge in 2016 and currently has six of them in the U.S. – more than any other U.S. airline.

"Our vast international network is one of United's unique strengths, and our United Polaris lounges help set the tone for business class travelers before or after their long-haul flights," said Aaron McMillan, United's Managing Director of Hospitality Programs. "Customers are going to love our new Chicago lounge because it gives them more of all of the things they want most—more space, more amenities, and more dining options—and we'll carry this new elevated design into future lounge openings and renovations across our United Polaris lounge portfolio."

The reopening of the United Polaris lounge in Chicago marks the airline's latest investment in its network of clubs and lounges. Since 2022, United has opened or renovated a total of nine United ClubSM locations across its system, including the recent opening of United Club Fly in Houston. In 2025, the airline will open a new dining room in the United Polaris lounge in Newark and a renovated and expanded United Club in Denver's B West Terminal, which will complete its plan to redesign every United Club at Denver. Internationally, United plans to reopen the United Club in Hong Kong. In 2026, United will open a new United Club in San Francisco and its largest-ever United Club in Houston.

More Dining and Beverage Options

With the addition of a second bar in the newly renovated United Polaris lounge, United is the first and only U.S. airline to offer two full-service bars in a business class lounge. There are now more than 25 bar seats with an option to takeaway a drink to another seating area and a menu of top-shelf liquor, premium wines, non-alcoholic beverages and more. The new, second bar is a speakeasy-style space with a selection of premium wine and champagne options, such as Laurent-Perrier La Cuvée Brut, and Chicago-inspired cocktails, including the Second City Sour featuring Rittenhouse Rye, Malort, Lemon, Egg White and Lingua Franca Pinot Noir.

The renovated lounge also features a larger dining area with more than 50 seats – nearly tripling the amount of dining seats – where travelers can order à la carte meals with curated premium food and beverages, including Prosciutto Parmigiano Crostini, Shrimp, Scallop, Spring Vegetable Risotto and Aperol Spritz cake.

In addition to a la carte dining, customers can enjoy a hot buffet with breakfast, lunch and dinner menus, mezze station with lemon honey whipped ricotta, flatbreads and more, and snacks served at both bars like premium nuts, mediterranean olives and a charcuterie board.

Chicago-Inspired Design and Decor from Crate & Barrel

Inspired by the local region, the renovated United Polaris lounge reflects the Chicago area by celebrating the city's architecture and unique geography. United worked with Johalla Projects, an art curatorial collective in Chicago, to showcase artwork from nine Chicago-based artists on a range of pieces, including print photography, paintings, collages and more that highlight the region.

To elevate the lounge experience, dinnerware and decor is provided by Crate & Barrel. Marking Chicago-based Crate & Barrel's first-ever collaboration with an airline, United worked with the retailer's in-house design and business sales teams to curate timeless pieces that elevate the traveler experience. From Crate & Barrel's classic Marin dinnerware and new Tuscan Marble collection, to colors of Le Creuset that are exclusive to the retailer, every detail was chosen to enhance both form and function.

United's Continued Investment in Clubs and Lounges

United is the world's largest airline* with the most extensive international network, offering approximately 500 daily flights to and from 150 international destinations for travelers around the world. As part of the airline's commitment to grow its network and bring travelers to new destinations, United is investing in renovating and expanding its portfolio of United Club locations and United Polaris lounges.

United is Chicago's Hometown Airline®, a central hub for nonstop connections across the globe. As demand for international travel continues to grow in Chicago, customers can enjoy the upgraded United Polaris lounge when traveling nonstop to 15 destinations in Europe, as well as nonstop to Asia and South America – continents where United offers the only U.S. carrier service. With the continued interest and future growth of long haul flying, the revamped United Polaris lounge provides a premium experience for travelers to refresh and refuel before or after their flight.

The United Polaris lounge in Chicago is located in Terminal 1 near gate C18, and it's open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. CT daily. International customers traveling in United Polaris and premium Star Alliance cabins can access the United Polaris lounge at locations in Chicago, Houston, Washington D.C., New York/Newark, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

For more information on United Polaris lounge portfolio, visit united.com.

Klaus Mäkelä, Just 28, To Become Chicago Symphony Orchestra Music Director In 2027

Klaus Mäkelä was hired Tuesday to succeed Riccardo Muti as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and will become the youngest head since its start in 1891.

A Finn who turned 28 in January, Mäkelä has had an astonishing rise in the music world, becoming principal guest conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2018-19, then chief conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic in 2020-21 and music director of the Orchestre de Paris in 2021-22. He is to start a five-year term as chief conductor the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in the Netherlands in 2027-28 after his contracts in Norway and France expire.

Mäkelä will become CSO music director designate immediately and start a five-year tenure in 2027-28, conducting a minimum 14 weeks per season. Mäkelä will be the youngest U.S. music director with a major orchestra since Gustavo Dudamel was 28 when he started with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2009.

“It’s just something which I don’t think about,” Mäkelä said during an interview with The Associated Press. “I was just reminded when I started in Amsterdam that I’m actually not even young, (Willem) Mengelberg was 24 when he started.”

Muti was music director for 13 seasons before stepping down last summer ahead of his 82nd birthday. Mäkelä will be 31 years, seven months, 16 days when he starts on Sept. 1, 2027. The previous youngest head of the orchestra was Frederick Stock at 32 years, 5 months, 1 day when he was hired on April 11, 1905, to succeed founding music director Theodore Thomas.

Mäkelä will take over an orchestra far older than he is. Among 93 members, Muti made 32 appointments and Daniel Barenboim 28, with most of the remainder by Georg Solti. Principal trombone Jay Friedman and harpist Lynne Turner were hired by Fritz Reiner, music director from 1953-62.

“What I like about Chicago Symphony is there is quite a big part of it which still sounds like it sounded with Reiner,” Mäkelä said.

He first led the CSO in April 2022 in a program that included Stravinsky’s “The Firebird.”

“When you conduct an orchestra for the first time, it’s somehow a chemistry thing,” Mäkelä said. “I felt that, OK, this orchestra they were willing to go to places with me which I had not had done with other orchestras.”

CSO president Jeff Alexander attended the first rehearsal.

“You said, ‘Good morning. Let’s begin’ and went right into the music,” Alexander recalled during a joint interview. “Very often a guest conductor will talk and talk and talk about the piece, but I think the musicians appreciated just getting to work. So I stayed for the first 10 or 15 minutes and I can tell you I already felt there was something really special happening.”

Mäkelä returned in February 2023 for Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. Alexander then started negotiations. The announcement was timed ahead of Mäkelä‘s performances with the CSO this week that include Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony.

“When you see Klaus conduct, there’s such a connection between him and the orchestra, and you can just feel it, and then between him and the audience,” Alexander said.

Mäkelä's hiring comes at a time when several other major U.S. institutions have upcoming podium vacancies, including the Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera and San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. As music director of a U.S. orchestra, Mäkelä’s role will include a fundraising component.

“I don’t think it will actually be so drastically different from the work in Amsterdam and in Paris,” he said. “In Oslo we have 100% of the funding is from the state and zero is private but then already in Amsterdam it’s 50-50 and there’s a lot of work to be done, and it’s also very much in my interest because then we can achieve things together if we find the right partnerships.”

Mäkelä played cello as a child — his father was a cello teacher and his mother a piano instructor. He remembers attending concerts given by Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu in Helsinki and decided his future vocation when he was 7 and singing in the children’s chorus at the Finnish National Opera in Bizet’s “Carmen.” He was riveted while watching the conductor on a backstage monitor.

“It sounds like a silly story, but it’s really true — from that moment,” Mäkelä said.

Studying cello at the Sibelius Academy, he took a conducting class with Jorma Panula, whose pupils have included Esa-Pekka Salonen and Susanna Mälkki. He was first included as a Helsinki Philharmonic cellist when he was 15, then was asked to conduct. He first conducted the Oslo Philharmonic in May 2018, and a string of debuts followed. He made his first Berlin Philharmonic appearance in April 2023 and is to make his Vienna Philharmonic debut this December. Decca Classics signed him as an exclusive recording artist in 2021, a rarity in 21st century classical music.

With all the symphonic work, Mäkelä has found little time for opera, where one-to-two-month stays are the norm.

He lives in Helsinki but hadn’t been there this year until late March. Mäkelä spends most of his time in Paris and Oslo, and getting scores to the right location proves time-consuming.

“I have FedEx and DHL and UPS all the time, and of course I always forget the score,” he said. “I want to have my own scores because I write things.”

He already is thinking about his initial programs in Chicago.

“It needs to be something which is a very clear start, a clear new chapter,” he said. “It needs to be music which keeps both me and the orchestra a little bit on our toes, because this needs to be everything else than comfort zone.”

BY RONALD BLUM, AP

The Museum Of Science And Industry In Chicago Travels Back To 79 A.D With Pompeii: The Exhibition

The Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) invites guests to step back in time and experience one of nature's most powerful moments in Pompeii: The Exhibition. This world-renowned collection of priceless artifacts and hands-on multimedia productions is staged in 79 A.D., just hours before life in Pompeii was simultaneously fixed and lost in time for centuries by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

Chevy Humphrey, President, and CEO of MSI, spoke to the exhibition's fusion of history and technology saying, "The blend of scientific discovery and media-rich way of retelling history allows visitors to experience the awe of nature and human ingenuity. We're thrilled to bring this innovative exhibition to Chicago and provide our guests with the ability to travel through time and immerse themselves in Pompeii with breathtaking, real-life examples of archeology, geology, earth science, art history, culture, and more."

The exhibition depicts daily life in Pompeii through an incredible combination of projections, audio, video, and photographic murals supplemented by more than 150 priceless artifacts on display from the unparalleled collection of the Naples National Archaeological Museum in Italy. These artifacts, which include gladiator armor, weapons, pots, furniture, jewelry, medical instruments, and many more objects, provide a comprehensive view of how the people of Pompeii lived, loved, worked, worshipped, and found entertainment before disaster struck in this bustling commercial port and strategic military city.

The exhibition also includes completely immersive experiences showing holographic gladiatorial combat, a brand-new 3D experience which takes visitors through the different stages of the Mt. Vesuvius eruption, and finally a 4D theater that simulates Mount Vesuvius's deathly impact on this ancient city. This all culminates with the reveal of full-body casts of human forms who perished during this incredible volcanic event.

"The story of Pompeii's destruction and preservation is well-known around the world for providing a perfect encapsulation of life during the Roman time," John Norman, President of World Heritage Exhibitions, producers of POMPEII: The Exhibition, said. "We wanted to bring this historical event back to life and allow visitors to relive it vividly. By combining priceless artifacts with multimedia productions, we have created an authentic, captivating retelling of life in Pompeii."

Pompeii: The Exhibition is open from February 23rd to September 4th, 2023. The exhibition requires a timed-entry ticket. Advance reservations are highly recommended. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit www.msichicago.org/pompeii.