FAA lifts flight cap at Chicago's O'Hare

CHI, Ill., June 17 (UPI) -- The Federal Aviation Administration will allow O'Hare International Airport in Chicago to resume unlimited flights as of Nov 1, officials said.

The FAA put a cap of 88 flights per hour on the airport in 2004 due to increasing gridlock and flight delays, the Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday. Virgin America's Chief Executive Officer David Cush said the lifted cap "allows us to get in and compete and that's all we can ask for."

Virgin America has plans to add flights from O'Hare to Los Angeles and San Francisco this year, the Tribune said.

But the lifted cap, and plans for O'Hare to open a new runway in November, come at time several major U.S. airlines are reducing flight schedules to fill planes while jet fuel costs are rising.

"Any growth will be very strategic," said JetBlue spokesman Bryan Baldwin.

"It has to be, with oil at more than $130 per barrel," he said.