In a special to Chicagoist, Todd McClamroch recaps being on the first Virgin America flight from San Francisco to O'Hare, as Virgin launches service to San Franciso and Los Angeles. more ›

United Airlines unveiled a Boeing 757 today painted in colors to commemorate the Big O's farewell season. more ›

United and Continental Airlines finally reach a deal to merge into the world's biggest airline with its headquarters based out of Chicago. more ›

Chicago-based United Airlines and Tempe-based US Airways have revved up talks of a merger into a super airline once again. They've tried before to make a deal that would create the second largest airline, behind the now-merged combo of Delta and Northwest. Some speculate, though, it may just be United courting a suitor to get the attention of others. From the New York Times: more ›

Responding to a letter that United and American Airlines issued to the press airing their grievances with Aviation Department heads for hiking landing fees at O'Hare by nearly 40 percent, Aviation Commissioner Rosemarie Andolino shot back Wednesday, expressing disappointment with the airlines for taking their complaints public and claiming that the city isn't trying to pre-pay debt on the O'Hare expansion. Andolino said that the fees are to pay for runways that came on-line in 2008. Andolino told the Sun-Times: more ›

United and American Airlines are pushing back at Chicago's Department of Aviation over a proposed 38% increase in landing fees this year. The airlines and the city are in dispute over when to start paying down the debt issued to finance the project. The Tribune breaks it down: more ›

U.S. Rep Dan Lipinski of Chicago has put an a proposal before Congress that's likely to either make you nod your head in agreement or ruffle your feathers about whether or not it's really important. As the Trib explains in a profile today, Lipinski's proposal looks to install federal regulations on size limits of carry-ons. The Congressman is also mulling over a proposal that would put caps on the fees several airlines charge for checked baggage. As for the size limit, David Castelveter, spokesman for the Air Transport Association, questioned its feasibility, asking, "Why set standards that apply to both a large wide-body plane and a regional jet?" Check out the full story at the Tribune. more ›

Today marks the completion of the first stage of the O'Hare expansion as its new $450 million runway opened for business. The first flight to land on the runway (the first new one in the city in 37 years) was welcomed by Mayor Daley as well as U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and Federal Aviation Administration chief Bobby Sturgell. Washington D.C.'s Dulles and Seattle's airports also had runway grand openings today. Supporters are promising that the new runway will help alleviate O'Hare's well-known delays.

Synonymous with air-travel angst for decades, O'Hare's delays persist despite a more than 8 percent fall in traffic this year. Mother Nature has been the airport's main vulnerability because when bad weather reduced visibility, controllers could land just two planes at a time -- reducing capacity by a third. more ›

A firehouse on the South Side is going to be converted into the Chicago Fire Department African-American Firefighter Museum. The firehouse? Engine 100, home of the infamous, racial-slur–filled 1990 retirement party. [S-T] more ›

American canceled 138 flights out of O'Hare today and as many as 850 flights nationally, stranding passengers and making everyone extremely grumpy. more ›