O'HARE — Travelers flying out of O'Hare Airport now wait no more than seven minutes to make it through security checkpoints, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Tuesday.
That is down approximately 90 percent since May, when passengers routinely waited two hours to make it through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints.
Emanuel said the improvement started after he met with federal officials and demanded more agents be assigned to O'Hare, the second busiest airport in the nation, and Midway airports.
At Midway, travelers wait an average of 10 minutes at peak travel times, down 55 minutes since May, officials said.
Approximately 99 screening officers have been assigned to O'Hare and 260 part-time screening officers have been converted to full-time since May. That has made the average wait of 105 minutes at peak travel times a thing of the past, Emanuel said.
At Midway, 53 screening officers have been added and 29 part-time screening officers have been converted to full-time since May, officials said.
At the height of the delays, outraged passengers flooded social media with complaints and cots had to be set up at O'Hare because so many people were missing their flights.
The shorter wait times came at a time when 4.5 percent more people came through O'Hare and 3 percent more traveled through Midway in June 2016 as compared with the previous year, officials said.
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