#ohare

12/1/2022. This was the third time I've flown out of O'Hare. The first time was to go Angola for a Prison Rodeo (long story from graduate school), Vancouver for a cruise and Japan. The Christmas decorations were really pretty! I'm curious to see what they will have for the Spring, if they have any.

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or heathrow.

it's chicago o'hare. 8 runways. and it's not close.

here's the part that will mess with your head:

dubai moves 92 million passengers a year on 2 runways.

heathrow moves 84 million on 2 runways.

o'hare moves 80 million on 8 runways.

more runways does not mean more passengers. it means the airport doesn't collapse when something goes wrong. the number that actually matters for travelers:

airports with 4 or more runways recover from weather events 37% faster than single-runway airports.

dallas fort worth had the lowest weather diversion rate of any u.s. hub in 2024 at 0.08% of operations.

laguardia runs on 2 runways. we all just watched what happens there when things go sideways.

the global ranking no one talks about:

chicago o'hare — 8 runways

dallas fort worth — 7 runways

denver — 6 runways

amsterdam schiphol — 6 runways

atlanta — 5 runways

heathrow — 2 runways (84 million passengers. two runways. let that sink in.)

denver is the one to watch.

53 square miles. largest airport footprint in the united states. 7th runway arriving 2028. masterplan leaves room for 12 total.

it was built from scratch in 1995 specifically so it would never run out of room.

also home to the longest public runway in the united states at 16,000 feet because at 5,431 feet above sea level planes need more ground to get into the air.

the practical tip buried in all of this:

when you have a choice of connecting hub, especially in winter, pick the one with more runways.

not the one with the nicest lounge.

not the one with the shortest layover.

the one with more runways.