Chicago O'Hare's grand redesign just got a new deadline: the flagship Global Terminal, the centrepiece of the airport's $8.5 billion-plus modernisation, is now expected to be finished in 2033. And that delay has opened the door to something unusual — a second major airport project advancing elsewhere in Illinois at the same time.
The Global Terminal will replace O'Hare's Terminal 2 with a roughly 2.2 million square foot facility meant to blend domestic and international operations under one roof. The design, led by Jeanne Gang's Studio ORD, is part of a wider push to lift the airport's gate capacity by about 25%. But rebuilding one of America's busiest hubs while it keeps running is slow work. Before the new terminal can rise, a separate Concourse E with 14 gates must break ground in late 2026 and open around 2030, creating the breathing room for later construction phases. United and American, O'Hare's two hub carriers, only signed off on the phasing plan in May 2024 after a long standoff with the city over cost and scope.
Meanwhile, about 35 miles south of downtown in Will County, Illinois is quietly shopping around a project that has been talked about since the 1980s: the South Suburban Airport near Peotone and Monee. The state's transport department is now running a procurement to find a private partner to design, build, finance and operate the airfield under a public-private partnership, with an updated procurement document issued in May 2026. Nothing is under construction yet, but the process has moved well beyond the drawing board.
The interesting part is the role this new airport would play. Rather than trying to out-hub O'Hare — home to mega-hubs that sent over a million passengers to London Heathrow alone last year — the Peotone project is being pitched largely around cargo, plus low-cost passenger flights and general aviation. A regional study estimates a cargo-focused airport could generate about 6,300 jobs and roughly $1 billion in annual economic activity in Chicago's southern suburbs. If it happens, Chicago would join the likes of London and New York as a true multi-airport metro, with O'Hare for connections, Midway for short-haul low-cost flying, and a third field chasing freight.
For travellers, the practical takeaway is modest but real: expect cranes and phased construction at O'Hare well into the 2030s, so allow buffer time for transfers and check your terminal before flying. And if you live in Chicago's southern suburbs, a much closer airport could eventually appear on the radar — though the decade-long build means nobody should book around it just yet.
Story via Simple Flying.
