American Airlines Adds Landline Bus Routes To Chicago O’Hare

American Airlines will open two Landline bus routes from regional airports to Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), which joins Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) as a hub where the carrier utilizes motorcoaches to serve short-haul routes.

From Oct. 6, American-branded buses operated by Landline will run 4X-daily between South Bend International Airport (SBN) in Indiana and ORD. From Oct. 20, American will offer 5X-weekly Landline service between Chicago Rockford International Airport (RFD) in Illinois and ORD.

Colorado-based Landline operates under capacity-purchase agreements with carriers as if it were a regional airline. Tickets are purchased via the airline as part of an itinerary. The bus routes are part of a carrier’s scheduled network. Landline buses have a luxury interior resembling an airline cabin, with 35 seats with a 36-40-in. pitch in a two-by-one configuration, as well as tray tables, in-seat power and WiFi offered at no charge.

Both the SBN-ORD and RFD-ORD routes will be secure-to-secure, meaning passengers will check-in at the regional airport and be dropped off by Landline buses airside at ORD. Passengers will not have to go through security again or retrieve checked bags, which are directly transferred onto the flight.

Landline operates four secure-to-secure routes from regional airports to PHL, with a fifth airside dropoff route from Trenton-Mercer Airport in New Jersey to be added in late September.

The SBN-ORD route has a driving time of 2.5 hr., while the RFD-ORD service has a trip time of 1.5 hr.

The new American bus routes come as two United Airlines Landline routes—Allentown, Pennsylvania, to Newark and Fort Collins, Colorado, to Denver—are being dropped. Those services were landside-to-landside, meaning passengers had to go through security again at the hubs.

Landline also operates two routes for Air Canada, connecting Hamilton and Waterloo to Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ). The YYZ routes are landside-to-landside, but Air Canada and Landline want to transfer them to secure-to-secure. “We are making significant progress” working with Air Canada toward transitioning to airside dropoff services, Landline Vice President Nick Johnson told Aviation Week.

Landline additionally operates landside-to-landside service for Sun Country Airlines from Duluth, Minnesota, to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Johnson said Landline is “in advanced discussions with three additional carriers” to start regional motorcoach routes. Service for existing partners continues to grow, he added.

“By the time ORD launches this fall, our total scheduled North America seat capacity will hit 1.5 million annually, a 50% increase over July 2024,” Johnson said.

By late September, Landline will operate 1,500 combined daily secure-to-secure seats from five regional airports to PHL. It will operate a combined 2,205 weekly seats on the two ORD routes.

SBN noted ORD will be the third American hub connected to the airport. The carrier operates nonstop flights from SBN to both Charlotte Douglas International and Dallas-Fort Worth International airports.

“We know American Airlines-loyal passengers are driving to O’Hare for flights,” SBN CEO Mike Daigle said. He added the Landline service gives passengers “greater flexibility … to make use of the drive time doing work or streaming on high-speed WiFi while avoiding the headaches of traffic, parking and long lines in Chicago.”

The Landline service also gives American another way to connect passengers traveling to South Bend in the fall to attend University of Notre Dame football games. The Fighting Irish have a strong national following and play in 96-year-old Notre Dame Stadium, one of the U.S.’s most historic sports venues.

American operates Friday-Sunday roundtrips to SBN for seven weekends between Sept. 12 and Nov. 23 from both New York LaGuardia and Reagan Washington National airports to serve football fans attending Saturday Notre Dame games.