O”Hare International Airport regained the nation’s busiest airport crown in 2014 — based on total flights — according to data obtained Wednesday from the Federal Aviation Administration.
O’Hare saw more flights than any other airport in the country — 881,933 — despite a fractional drop of 0.2 percent in total operations.
It edged out No. 2 Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which was the busiest in 2013, after Atlanta’s total operations dropped 4.7 percent last year, FAA data indicated.
Midway Airport saw the 26th-highest number of flights in the nation in 2014, at 249,252.
The fractional drop in O’Hare flights came despite the October 2013 debut of new O’Hare flight paths that were supposed to increase capacity and decrease delays.
The FAA count includes commercial passenger flights, air taxis, general aviation and military flights. It does not include the total number of passengers using the airport, which is the traditional yardstick by which the title of “world’s busiest” has been bestowed. That title was held by Atlanta in 2013, a year in which O’Hare ranked fifth worldwide in total passengers.
