O'HARE — More than 1.7 million people are expected to travel through O'Hare and Midway airports during the Memorial Day weekend, city officials said Thursday.
And most travelers won't have to brave long security lines before they leave on a jet plane, the mayor's office announced.
Ninety-nine percent of travelers have waited less than 15 minutes in security lines run by the Transportation Security Administration during the past year, officials said.
Chicago officials expect the number of air travelers during Memorial Day weekend to jump 2 percent from last year, officials said.
And waits for most passengers are even less. At Midway and O’Hare — which annually handle approximately 100 million passengers combined — travelers on average wait no more 10 minutes, even during peak travel times, officials said.
That is a big change since a year ago, when passengers routinely waited two hours to make it through security checkpoints.
After a public outcry, Emanuel met with federal officials and demanded more agents and canine teams be assigned to O'Hare, the second busiest airport in the nation, and Midway airports.
