American Airlines filed a lawsuit Friday alleging the city has breached a lease agreement at O’Hare Airport by prematurely reorganizing gates that would give more space to its rival United Airlines.
The “gate redetermination” would give United Airlines five more gates while taking away four gates from American Airlines, the suit claims. United has 88 gates, and American has 71.
The airlines are O’Hare’s two hub carriers, making up the airport’s most combined gate space. United is O’Hare’s largest carrier and holds about 40% of the airport’s gates, while American holds around 30%.
American Airlines contends the city has breached the Airline Use and Lease Agreement, signed seven years ago, which included a $6 billion overhaul of O’Hare’s terminals. It also gave American Airlines “the opportunity to earn its fair share of gates at O’Hare before a gate redetermination could be triggered,” the airline says.
“American is committed to keeping O’Hare competitive, as our presence yields more extensive flight schedules and lower fares for our Chicagoland customers and travelers from across the world,” American Airlines said in a statement.
“That’s why we’re taking action against the Chicago Department of Aviation’s (CDA) premature trigger of the reallocation of gates at O’Hare — the timing is not only a violation of the agreement signed in 2018, but it unfairly upsets the competitive balance at O’Hare by making it more difficult for us to grow.”
The agreement specifies a one-year “ramp up period” to allow all airlines to use newly constructed gates before shuffling gates. That period could be triggered by a few factors, most notably the completion of the three gates in Terminal 3, which weren’t operational until March 14, the lawsuit claims.
But the Chicago Department of Aviation, “at United’s request,” now wants to begin the gate reshuffling this year, “depriving American of its opportunity to earn its fair share of gates,” the lawsuit states.
United Airlines deferred comment to the city.
City officials not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This year’s gate redetermination would be based on each airline’s flight statistics from 2024, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit asks that no gate reallocation happens until at least April 2027.
Contributing: Cindy Hernandez