Local residents may now hop a flight to the Windy City and make it back before the stroke of midnight. Beginning June 9, American Airlines will offer two daily round-trip flights between the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport (CHO) and the Chicago O’Hare Airport (ORD), the third busiest airport in the world. The airline offers 515 total daily flights from O’Hare. Additionally, a Charlottesville passenger may now fly to Chicago for the day and return to CHO by 11:40pm EST. Chicago was selected as CHO’s newest destination over six other competitors via a survey by the city’s Office of Communications.
Last Monday, American Airlines officials notified CHO that aircraft for the new service were available. (The airplanes, 44-seat Embraer jets, can operate without the multimillion dollar extended runway project currently in progress at CHO, which will not be completely constructed and paved for 2 to 4 years.) Airport Authority Executive Director Barbara Hutchinson hopes that competition among the three airlines currently serving CHO and American Airlines will bring the cost of airfare down.
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