O Hare International Airport

Hundreds of weary travelers who spent the night at O'Hare International Airport waited in long lines for flights Tuesday as the nation's busiest airport struggled to recover from its first major winter storm of the season. Additional flight delays occurred Tuesday as the area received more snow. Downtown Chicago and O'Hare recorded accumulations of 3 inches of snow after Monday's storm and an additional 2 to 4 inches were expected.

A federal court ruling allowing the city to be sued for damages blamed on noise from O'Hare International Airport was hailed Wednesday as a breakthrough in the fight to cut the din in suburban communities. "It's one of the biggest victories we've had to date," said John Geils, village president for suburban Bensenville near the busy airport. The U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling Tuesday reversed a decision that had barred lawsuits against the city over its airport operations.

The Federal Aviation Administration sent a report to Congress on Wednesday outlining plans to reduce air-traffic controller errors at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, but Illinois' two senators said it fell short of expectations. The six-page document sent to Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.

The practice of stacking the paths of flights in and out of Chicago's O'Hare International Airport may have contributed to a steady increase in the number of mistakes made by air traffic controllers, according to a government review of O'Hare's flight operations.

Air traffic controllers in Washington will manage the flow of planes into Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, a move to help local controllers and clear congested skies, the Transportation Department announced. Transportation Secretary James H. Burnley IV announced the change one day after the Federal Aviation Administration reduced the number of departures and arrivals at O'Hare. This year, controllers at O'Hare have made 30 errors, more than twice the mistakes recorded in 1987.

In a move designed to end the growing number of mistakes by air-traffic controllers at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday cut the number of hourly flights into the airport. The reduction came in the wake of four errors since Friday in which four pairs of airplanes were either misdirected by controllers or their pilots misunderstood instructions.

Federal safety investigators called for a "back-to-basics" training program for air traffic controllers at Chicago's busy O'Hare International Airport. The National Transportation Safety Board started an investigation of air traffic control at O'Hare in June after a sharp surge in the number of operational errors by controllers.

Chicago's O'Hare International Airport has regained the title of world's busiest that it held for many years, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. A drop in the number of flights at Atlanta's Hartsfield airport in the first three months of the year was responsible, officials said.