O’Hare redevelopment timeline pushes back to 2034

The timeline for O’Hare’s extensive $8.5 billion expansion and rebuild has been extended further into 2034. Most recently the redevelopment was expected to be done in 2032, but when the project was originally announced in 2018, construction was supposed to be finished by 2026.

The city's original plan called for starting construction with the two satellite concourses and the tunnel that will connect the new concourses to the existing terminal, followed by the O’Hare Global Terminal, the project’s centerpiece. Back in May 2024, Mayor Brandon Johnson and the airlines struck a deal to adjust the timeline, building the first satellite, then the Global Terminal, and the second satellite last. 

The first building to begin construction will be Satellite 1, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in collaboration with Ross Barney Architects, Juan Gabriel Moreno Architects (JGMA), and Arup. Satellite Concourse 1 adds 19 new gates and is designed to flexibly accommodate different sizes of aircraft bodies, increasing operational efficiency for carriers and reducing layover transfers for passengers in one of the nation’s busiest airports. 

Work on the project began in March 2023 with the construction of several temporary taxiways and a new grade-separated roadway, the reconfiguration of Taxiway B, and the construction of three new temporary gates off Concourse C, which opened this spring. The current timeline calls for the completion of the Satellite Concourse 1 as an extension of Concourse C in 2028.

The project’s timeline shows that the centerpiece O’Hare Global Terminal, which will welcome international travelers and allow them to connect to domestic Terminals 1 and 3, is on track to finish in 2032, with Satellite 2 being pushed back to 2034.