For anyone in the northern suburbs, Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, or MKE, is a straight, easy shot north on Interstate 94. It’s served by all the major domestic airlines. Parking is a breeze, with no Chicago O’Hare-style crowds. There’s even a cool indie bookstore in the terminal.
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The catch? Far fewer choices for nonstop flights than at the airport to the south, and, in most cases, higher ticket prices, though occasionally lower fares can be found.
A direct flight to Boston this Sunday on JetBlue booked two weeks in advance would have cost $401 for economy, almost a hundred bucks more than United’s comparably timed flight out of O’Hare. Going to New York is an even bigger difference, $660 on Delta out of MKE, versus $399 on United at O’Hare, where direct flights to LaGuardia Airport leave practically every half hour during prime time.
Milwaukee’s airport can’t outdo its mega-rival 70 miles away, but it sure is trying, and everyone who depends on O’Hare should be rooting for it. Travelers could be in for a rough summer at the world’s busiest airport, with higher prices in the offing amid steep fuel costs — especially with rock-bottom Spirit Airlines now out of business.
A measure of relief could be coming from the underutilized runways to the north.
This fall, MKE is scheduled to open an $80 million air-cargo hub, including a new 333,000-square-foot building, part of a public-private partnership that has been in the making for years.
The hub is expected to draw some cargo operations to Milwaukee from O’Hare, which dominates the region’s airborne supply chain today. Construction-related delays are an issue at O’Hare and those disruptions fall especially hard on cargo flights, which typically generate less revenue than passenger operations and therefore get a lower priority.
As ORD expands, Milwaukee can help to take the pressure off. Critically, its long runways can handle the wide-body jets typically used for transporting cargo. It also has complementary infrastructure around it, including warehouse and logistics buildings lining I-94. And MKE has open land that O’Hare lacks, inviting further development. Landing fees and rents could help defray some passenger airfare costs in the future.
Along with the cargo hub, MKE is building a new international terminal, expected to open next year, making it a viable alternative for at least some flights currently run out of O’Hare.
MKE’s existing international terminal is a forlorn, low-slung bunker that holds too few passengers, and its single gate can’t accommodate bigger jets. The new international terminal will have two state-of-the-art gates, with room for hundreds of passengers. Construction crews were swarming over it earlier this month and it’s possible the project could welcome its first plane ahead of schedule in 2027.
So, if the century-old MKE is so great, why hasn’t business taken off by now? Competition, and not just from O’Hare.
Chicago Midway Airport provides a closer, easier-to-navigate alternative to O’Hare. Chicago Rockford International Airport is already a big freight hub. Indiana’s South Bend International Airport attracts some business from the Chicago area. The Gary airport has no commercial passenger flights but competes for cargo (and, for the record, could compete for private jets going to Chicago Bears games in Hammond).
The numbers tell the story: O’Hare served 84.86 million passengers in 2025, Midway 19.38 million and MKE just 5.87 million, far less than the Chicago airports though still much more than South Bend or Rockford. MKE peaked at nearly 10 million passengers in 2010, when the now-defunct AirTran Airways and Midwest Airlines were going strong.
In its airport magazine, MKE touts “the hidden cost of flying Chicago,” including everything from the not-so-hidden higher parking fees and longer wait times to the “painful” drives home. Striking a defensive tone, the magazine says, “Sure, you might find some flights at lower prices in Chicago, but that doesn’t include the significant extra costs of an O’Hare or Midway airport trip in both money and time.”
An MKE spokesperson elaborates: “We are doing everything we can to provide a stress-free travel experience at MKE, and we hope that makes for a compelling case vs. O’Hare.” Regarding cargo, the spokesperson said, “Even if we can redirect a small portion of what comes into O’Hare, that would be a big win for us.”
These days, the best ally in marketing this distant-third airport is the Federal Aviation Administration, which has moved to limit O’Hare flights to 2,708 a day this summer, down from the planned 3,000-plus. As this page has chronicled, everything from airline turf wars and safety concerns to a sorry on-time performance went into that determination.
And as this page also has noted, if fuel prices stay high, the FAA plan for capping O’Hare flights this summer could be mostly moot. The airlines’ ability to raise fares is limited, and schedules are already being revised accordingly.
MKE has a long-awaited opening to compete aggressively. On behalf of a traveling public that stands to benefit from more options, let’s hope this often-overlooked airport grabs the opportunity.
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