O'Hare International Airport handled more than 25 million passengers between June and August 2026, setting a summer record for the second straight year.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) announced the milestone on Oct. 22. The airport averaged nearly 275,000 passengers per day over the three months, a 2.7% increase over summer 2025, CBS Chicago reported.

For Park Ridge and Niles residents who live under O'Hare flight paths, more passengers also tends to mean more planes. The airport logged 245,719 takeoffs and landings over the summer, about 6% more than the same period in 2025, according to CDA data cited by CBS Chicago.

July was the busiest month, with 8.54 million passengers, up 3.2% from July 2025. June and August each topped 8.2 million. The summer total included more than 20.4 million domestic passengers and 4.6 million international passengers, the city said.

Noise complaints surge

The passenger boom coincides with a sharp rise in noise complaints. Chicago's aircraft noise complaint system logged 371,615 complaints through Oct. 18, up 28% from the same period in 2025, according to Transparent City. That is the largest year-over-year jump in the dataset going back to 2019.

August 2026 alone drew 48,551 complaints, compared with 29,925 in August 2025. July 2026 logged 43,429, up from 29,272 the prior year.

The surge is concentrated in internet and mobile filings. Mobile device complaints jumped from 1,895 to 12,553, a 562% increase. The complaint data identifies Chicago's Northwest Side neighborhoods as the primary affected areas. Whether Park Ridge and Niles saw a comparable increase is unclear from the available citywide figures.

Flight caps and construction ahead

The record came despite Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) flight caps imposed before the summer travel season. Those caps cut hundreds of daily flights over capacity and delay concerns, CBS Chicago reported.

The restrictions may not lift soon. United Airlines Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Nocella told investors on Oct. 21 that he expects the caps to extend beyond late 2027 because of ORDNext, the airport's massive terminal expansion. CBS Chicago reported ORDNext is set to last through 2034 and will take some taxiways out of service at various points. Simple Flying reported the project's centerpiece Global Terminal has slipped to a 2033 completion target.

A new Concourse E is expected to break ground in late 2026 and deliver 14 gates by 2030, according to Simple Flying. The broader modernization program has been described as an $8.5 billion-plus investment.

With construction stretching years ahead and passenger counts still climbing, the next scheduled meeting of the O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission is the venue for residents to press for local noise data.