United Airlines has just raised the stakes in its Chicago O’Hare turf war with American Airlines by scooping up Spirit Airlines’ final two preferential use gates at ORD for about $30 million.
Spirit had already sold two of its original four ORD gates to American for roughly $30 million in late 2025 and is now operating with a scaled down schedule at O’Hare using common use gates for its remaining departures. It will continue to serve Chicago after this transfer, but with even fewer flights than currently offered.
Chicago O’Hare has become one of the fiercest points of friction between United and American. United has explicitly framed its expansion at ORD as a strategic effort to defend its dominance in the market, publicly drawing a line in the sand and pledging to match American’s growth there.
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on Live and Let's Fly.
