Ghafari Unveils Landmark Aircraft Maintenance Hangar for American Airlines at O’Hare Airport
Chicago, IL – Global architecture and engineering firm Ghafari Associates is excited to announce the completion of American Airlines’ Hangar 2 at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, the longest clear span, dual threshold airline hangar in the world. The new facility was unveiled at a grand opening celebration on January 25 attended by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Ghafari team members, and over 200 officials, customers, employees, partners, and vendors.
"We were pleased to witness the opening of this state-of-the-art maintenance and engineering center,” said Ted Oberlies, Senior Vice President of Ghafari’s Aviation Practice. “It’s a true testament to American Airlines’ commitment to the future of its Chicago operations, employees, and customer base. We were honored to lead the facility design, working closely with American and a great team of consultants and contractors.”
Ghafari provided architecture and engineering services for the development of the 194,000 SF dual-entry facility, which can accommodate all aircraft variants in American’s fleet, including narrow-body and wide-body types. The facility also houses ancillary support functions, including a general back shop, a component staging area, and storage spaces.
Unique to the hangar is dual access entry, allowing aircraft to enter and exit from either side of the long dimension. Coupled with a larger capacity for aircraft hardstand positions, this feature offers greater flexibility in servicing American’s extensive fleet of aircraft. The facility is also designed with over 20,000 linear feet of underground utilities, providing point-of-use aircraft services for safer, more effective, and timesaving operations. Additional key features of the design include the use of LED lighting and daylight harvesting, which will reduce energy costs while meeting the Sustainable Airport Manual requirements.
The new structure will improve and consolidate both line and base maintenance operations at the busy hub, allowing American to continue servicing one of the largest and fastest-growing aircraft fleets in the world. American’s Hangar 2 sets a new standard for efficiency and flexibility for maintaining the next generation of commercial aircraft.
