A Day In American's Line Operations At Chicago O'Hare

Lindsay Bjerregaard Lee Ann Shay

Records and Dispatch

Production support and control handles records control.

Sheet Metal Room

Lindsay Bjerregaard/Aviation Week

American Airlines’ sheet metal room.

Oxygen Servicing

Oxygen servicing, with hydrostatic tests, is unique to American’s Chicago O’Hare operation.

Engine Change Crew

Lindsay Bjerregaard/Aviation Week

American has an engine change crew and access the spare GEnx, CFM56 and JT8 spare engines here.

Boeing 787 Maintenance

Lindsay Bjerregaard/Aviation Week

A Boeing 787 in for routine light maintenance.

Hub Control Center

Lindsay Bjerregaard/Aviation Week

American’s hub control center is located in a tower at O’Hare. This bustling place full of large monitors tracks aircraft movement and vendor partners, such as catering.

ETOPS Check

Lindsay Bjerregaard/Aviation Week

The ETOPS check on this aircraft, American Airlines nose wheel 8AW (American’s 23rd because its first is labeled 8AA).

ETOPS Check

Lindsay Bjerregaard/Aviation Week

Three mechanics are assigned to each ETOPS check, which must be performed at the gate.

New Hangar

Lindsay Bjerregaard/Aviation Week

The architectural firm Ghafari designed American Airlines’ new Hangar 2 at Chicago O’Hare. Maintenance technicians will be able to access power, air and water at the floor by each aircraft.

Hangar 2 Construction

Lindsay Bjerregaard/Aviation Week

The concrete ramp and steel erection for the new Hangar 2 should be finished this fall.

Less Traffic

Lindsay Bjerregaard/Aviation Week

Getting from the terminal to American’s two hangars requires driving over active taxiways, as does going between the current Hangar 1 and Hangar 2. After the new second hangar is finished next year, the facilities will be adjacent—connected by a two-story connector building that will house spares—so no more active taxiway between the hangars.

To see what it takes to keep American Airlines' hub at Chicago O'Hare, one of the busiest airports in the world, running smoothly, we visited two hangars, the hub control center and a Boeing 787 ETOPS check on the ramp.

Lindsay Bjerregaard

Lindsay Bjerregaard is Managing Editor for Aviation Week’s MRO portfolio. Her coverage focuses on MRO technology, workforce, and product and service news for aviationweek.com, Aviation Week Marketplace and Inside MRO.

Lee Ann Shay

As executive editor of MRO and business aviation, Lee Ann Shay directs Aviation Week's coverage of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), including Inside MRO, and business aviation, including BCA.