DOWNTOWN — More than 1.7 million people are expected to travel through O'Hare and Midway airports for Labor Day weekend, according to the city.
O'Hare alone is expected to see 1.3 million people flying to and from the airport between Thursday and Tuesday, according to the city's Department of Aviation. An estimated 421,000 people will pass through Midway. Those estimates are increases over what the airports experienced last year for the holiday weekend.
O'Hare was planning to host live music on Friday and Midway was set to host an event with music and giveaways, according to the city. Free lemonade will also be given to flyers at Midway on Monday and Tuesday.
The busiest day for the airports is expected to be Friday, when the city estimated more than 246,000 people will travel through O'Hare and another 78,000 will fly to or from Midway.
The busy weekend will mark an end to "one of the busiest summers on record for air travel to and from Chicago," according to the city.
More than 45 million people had gone through O'Hare Airport by the end of July, the highest in the airport's history, according to the city.
