One of the busiest travel periods of the year starts Thursday as Memorial Day weekend begins, with more than two million people expected to pass through Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway International Airports as the unofficial start to summer kicks off.
According to the Chicago Department of Aviation, 15% more people will travel through O’Hare Airport during the 2026 Memorial Day weekend travel rush compared to the holiday in 2025. A total of 1.75 million passengers are expected to pass through the airport Thursday, May 21 through Tuesday, May 26, with Friday expected to be the airport’s busiest day.
At Midway, nearly 292,000 travelers are expected during the holiday travel period, the CDA said, marking a 3% increase from the same period last year. Friday is also projected to be Midway’s busiest travel day, with nearly 54,000 passengers, the CDA said said in a release.
Travelers to both airports could also see “longer than usual wait times” at security checkpoints due to to the increase in passengers, the CDA said, with the Transportation Security Administration and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection advising travelers to get to airports early.
Overall, more than 18.3 million passengers are expected to pass through U.S. airports over the busy holiday weekend, TSA said.
Traffic on highways was also likely, with 1.9 million people in Illinois expected to travel by car for Memorial Day weekend, AAA said. The heaviest traffic days were projected to be Friday, Saturday and Monday, and the lightest traffic travel day was expected to be Sunday, transportation data agency INRIX said.
Road trips will also be expensive due to high gas prices, with Illinois’ average gas price at $4.35 per gallon compared to $3.07 one year ago.
According to AAA, Chicago landed on the top 10 list of U.S. cities for Memorial Day travel for 2026, ranking at No. 8.
