Chicago is a large city located in the northern portion of USA. It has very high business and tourism ratings that almost always exceed 300 or more each. The tourism ratings are usually higher than the business ratings and have been known to exceed 500 in some channels.
Airport[]
The default airport here is O'Hare International Airport (ORD)
Trivia[]
In the game, the maximum number of runways the airport has is three. In real life, O'Hare International Airport has eight runways, one of the most for any international airport. The airport is named in honour of Edward O'Hare, who was the U.S. Navy's first flying ace and Medal of Honor recipient in World War II. Unfortunately, his aircraft was shot down by Japanese forces and O'Hare was killed on November 26, 1943.
Strategy[]
Chicago's high ratings makes this place one of the most intense cities for competition. Routes with 5 or 6 competitors are not uncommon and cases of three code shares between six airlines being initiated has occurred before. For this reason, beginners are strongly advised not to start here as the massive competition can overwhelm any inexperienced players. The city, however, can sustain the high intensity of the competition, but routes should be closed if it is unfavourable to the player. Chicago is also in a pretty good spot for routes with connections to South American cities (e.g Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires), North American cities (e.g. Los Angeles and Mexico City) and European cities (e.g London and Rome) being very popular among many airlines. The above recommendations also apply to cargo routes in and out of the city.
O'Hare International Airport can and will attain maximum slot usage within 10 to 15 years into the game. The primary airport will never be enough to meet the slot demand and a second (and sometimes a third) airport will become a necessity. The additional airports are often built by players rather than the national government. Thus, a player should seek to either build the second airport when the time is right (when the primary airport is close to achieving maximum slot capacity) or buy over O'Hare International Airport from the national government. Both should be done as soon as possible as the city is a popular choice for many other airlines in building or buying airports.
Like many large cities with high ratings, the best passenger planes to beat the competition are the ones with high satisfaction and the ability to ferry large numbers of passengers in a short time. Examples include the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 747. Medium capacity aircraft may also be used for routes to smaller cities and suitable examples include the Boeing 777, Airbus A300 and Ilyushin IL-96. Small capacity passenger planes should be avoided to keep the number of planes used to a minimum as the huge number of travellers out of this city can overwhelm smaller planes. This is to minimise depreciation caused by operating multiple aircraft. If the aircraft has a long enough range (usually more than 13,000km), routes to Asian cities (e.g. Seoul and Kuala Lumpur) can be made. Aircraft that fits this role are the Airbus A340 and the Boeing 777. For cargo operations, medium to large capacity aircraft are recommended. This includes the Airbus A300-600ST, Airbus A330-200F and Boeing 777F. Just like passenger planes, small capacity planes should be avoided in order to minimise the number of planes on the route and, in turn, depreciation.