US Summer Travel Soars as American, United, and Southwest Launch Over Seventeen Million Seats from Chicago – Travel And Tour World

Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports will offer a record 17.8M summer seats in 2025, as American, United, and Southwest boost U.S. travel with new routes.

Chicago’s airports are gearing up for a record-breaking summer travel season. Between June and August 2025, Chicago O’Hare and Midway are set to offer a combined 17.8 million outbound seats—marking the highest volume ever for the summer period. This increase includes 15 additional routes compared to the same months in 2024.

According to the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA), which oversees both airports, departing seat capacity will jump 7% from last summer and is up 4% from pre-pandemic levels in 2019. Altogether, travelers will have access to 265 routes this summer, up from 250 a year ago.

At O’Hare, American Airlines plans a major expansion, boosting seat capacity by 25% and ramping up departures by 22% over last summer. The airline will hit a peak of 480 daily flights. United Airlines, headquartered in Chicago, will also hit a significant milestone, offering more outbound seats from the city than at any time in the past 20 years.

Southwest Airlines, which operates at both O’Hare and Midway, will serve 77 nonstop destinations this summer—an increase from the 66 destinations it flew exclusively from Midway in July 2019.

American is launching several new routes from O’Hare, both seasonal and year-round. New destinations include Liberia (Costa Rica), Madrid, Naples (Italy), Bismarck (ND), Boise (ID), Colorado Springs (CO), Hyannis (MA), Key West (FL), and Spokane (WA).

United is also rolling out new routes for summer travelers, including Canadian cities Edmonton, Halifax, and Winnipeg, as well as U.S. destinations like Billings (MT), Ontario (CA), Pellston (MI), Rhinelander (WI), and Sault Ste. Marie (MI).

Southwest will expand its Midway offerings with new nonstop flights to Boise and Spokane.

Several international carriers are also bolstering their Chicago presence this summer. Cathay Pacific will return to O’Hare with daily flights to Hong Kong for the first time since 2019. Avianca will launch a new connection between San Salvador and O’Hare, and WestJet will begin flying between Edmonton and Chicago. Meanwhile, Turkish Airlines will increase its service between O’Hare and Istanbul, going from 14 weekly flights to 17 starting July 7.