O'Hare Busier, Elmhurst Complaints Rise By Nearly 50%: Official

ELMHURST, IL – Complaints about aircraft noise are rising in Elmhurst, as O'Hare has reclaimed the title of the world's busiest airport from Atlanta.

At a meeting last year, Alderman Mike Baker told his colleagues that O'Hare received 377 noise complaints from Elmhurst residents in July 2025, coming from seven households.

At Monday's City Council meeting, Baker, the city's representative on the O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission, said eight households submitted 544 complaints in August, a nearly 50 percent increase. That reflects a trend across the area, Baker said.

O'Hare reported 860,015 takeoffs and landings in 2025. As of the end of August, the year-to-date number was 620,125, Baker said. At that rate, the airport could see more than 930,000 this year, exceeding the level in 2019, the year before the pandemic.

One runway, known as 22L, is seen as affecting Elmhurst. It is used nearly entirely for takeoffs, which are significantly noisier than landings.

These days, 23 percent of the airport's takeoffs are on this runway, down from 30 percent before, Baker said.

"Hopefully, we can get complaints down," he said.