A Day In American's Line Operations At Chicago O'Hare
Lindsay Bjerregaard Lee Ann Shay October 11, 2017
Records and Dispatch
Production support and control handles records control.

Sheet Metal Room
American Airlines’ sheet metal room.

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

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

Boeing 787 Maintenance
A Boeing 787 in for routine light maintenance.

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

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

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

Less Traffic
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.