What happened
Southwest Airlines announced it will pull out of Chicago O’Hare Airport (ORD) as of June 4, 2026. The carrier will shift its focus to Chicago Midway Airport (MDW), citing challenging operations at O'Hare where it competes with American and United. Southwest currently serves approximately a dozen destinations from ORD, including hubs like Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, as well as leisure destinations like Fort Myers. This move follows a similar pattern in Houston, where Southwest previously served IAH before pulling back to focus on Hobby. The decision marks the end of a roughly five-year test of serving major international airports outside the airline's fortress hubs