United Airlines Requests Ground Stop At Chicago O’Hare To Manage Influx Of Arrivals

Published Nov 14, 2026, 12:42 PM EST Journalist – Aaron is an aviation and travel journalist with 14 years of experience in the travel and tourism industry. His background spans airport operations, aviation infrastructure, and travel consulting, having worked with global organizations across New Zealand, Europe, and North America. Combining industry expertise with firsthand travel experience across more than 52 countries and five continents, Aaron covers airlines, airports, aviation policy, and the wider travel sector. He is based in Canterbury, New Zealand. His work has been published in Simple Flying and featured by MSN, SAM CHUI Aviation & Travel, EIN News, Pakistan Defence, and Climate Depot. A major US airline has requested a ground stop at the world's busiest airfield after United Airlines was overwhelmed with arriving aircraft. This follows the ground stop ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration yesterday after the air traffic control system was overwhelmed, grounding all departing aircraft across the country. As a result, inbound flights to Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) have been grounded before departure due to a high influx of arriving services and the current backlog of jets still waiting for departure at the Illinois airport. Last night, Runway 22R was used as a parking lot to store the excess aircraft. Chicago O'Hare Requests Ground Stop To Arriving Aircraft To Ease Congestion Credit: MKPhoto12 | Shutterstock O'Hare is the world's busiest airfield when analyzing total flight arrivals and departures. Friday's havoc was caused by the telecommunications and equipment failure that paralyzed all 22 Air Route Traffic Control Centers that control the US airspace. This came from the overloading of legacy systems that date back to the 1980s. Due to the inconsistent information that was being produced by these systems, the FAA took the rare approach to issue a nationwide ground stop out of caution to allow technicians to investigate the failure. This resulted in all departing flights to, from, and within the US being grounded for several hours. Simple Flying reached out to United Airlines for comment on the ground stop request at O'Hare and was provided the following: This ground stop has expired. We requested this action by the FAA to limit some inbound flights to Chicago O'Hare to help us prioritize departures as we work to resume normal operations today. Flights At Chicago O'Hare Resume As Flights Begin To Depart Credit: ALEXANDRE F FAGUNDES | Shutterstock United confirmed that the temporary ground stop requested on Saturday allowed the airport and airline to clear a backlog of departing flights at O'Hare. This provided the airline a reprieve to clear the congestion of aircraft and passengers that had been caused by the nationwide ground stop the day prior. With around 40 million passengers a year, United is O'Hare's biggest operator, with a 48% market share according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. In 2025, the airport recorded a total of 84 million passengers and 857,000 aircraft movements. All departing flights bound for Chicago O'Hare were temporarily delayed as part of the ground stop, including flights to the airline's top ten destinations to/from the airport, as detailed below: Destination IATA Code Total Annual Passengers Other Airlines Also Operating The Route New York–LaGuardia, New York LGA 1,372,151 American, Delta, United Los Angeles, California LAX 1,171,810 American, Frontier, United San Francisco, California SFO 987,440 American, United Denver, Colorado DEN 972,507 American, Frontier, Southwest, United Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas DFW 972,071 American, Frontier, United Boston, Massachusetts BOS 957,009 American, Delta, JetBlue, United Orlando, Florida MCO 953,193 American, Frontier, Southwest, United Newark, New Jersey EWR 883,386 American, United Houston-Intercontinental, Texas IAH 871,307 American, Frontier, United Phoenix–Sky Harbor, Arizona PHX 856,959 American, Frontier, Southwest, United American Airlines is the second largest operator at O'Hare, with more than 29 million annual passengers (33%), followed by Delta with 2.8 million passengers (3.4%). United Requests Targeted Ground Stop At O'Hare to Manage Gate Congestion Credit: Ritu Manoj Jethan | Shutterstock United specifically requested the targeted ground stop at O'Hare to manage the severe gate congestion that the airline was experiencing. This came as the major backlog of flights that were grounded after the nationwide air traffic control outage from the day prior. On Saturday morning, the airline had a ground stop issued up until 11:00 AM, which allowed the airline to clear many flights that were stuck at the gates, leaving no room for incoming flights and the ability to deplane these passengers. With nearly 10,000 flights canceled nationwide across all airlines, delays and cancellations are expected across Saturday, with The New York Times confirming that in excess of 3,000 flights have been canceled today as a result. Pilots and flight crew, along with aircraft, are also displaced across the country after crew members are timed out after surpassing their regulated work hours that these crew members can safely work. These disruptions are the longest US airspace shutdown in more than a quarter of a century. The last time a ground stop of this magnitude took place was after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.