WASHINGTON, March 12 (Reuters) - Chicago urged the

Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday not to cut flights

at the city's O'Hare International Airport below 2,800 per day,

saying it would be unwarranted and "lead to significant

disruption to the National Airspace System."

The FAA on February 27 proposed a 2,800 daily flight limit

for summer flights, down from the 3,080 daily operations

announced for the summer but above last summer's 2,680 daily

flights. The proposal came after the two main carriers at O'Hare

- United Airlines and American Airlines ( AAL ) - added

significant flights as they battle to dominate the hub.

Reuters reported on March 5 that the FAA told airlines it

wanted steeper cuts to around 2,500 per day, but that number

remains under ⁠discussion.

Here are some details:

* The FAA is expected to reconvene a schedule reduction

meeting next week in a bid to finalize flight cuts

* The current Chicago schedules would make 2026 the busiest

summer ever at O'Hare and the FAA said the "increase ​is

significant and would stress the runway, terminal, and air

traffic control systems."

* The Chicago Aviation Department said on Thursday that

during last week's meetings FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said

he wanted fewer than 2,500 flights per day. The following day,

the FAA then told the city it wanted 2,400. Airline officials

say the number later moved to around 2,550 per day, but is still

in flux.

* United and American have added flights in order to qualify

for more gates next year. United plans to operate 780 flights a

day ‌from ⁠Chicago O'Hare this month, up from the 541 flights on

average per day last year.

* American said in December it would add 100 daily

departures to more ​than 75 destinations from ​O'Hare in time

for ⁠spring-break travel, a 30% increase in spring departures

compared to 2025. Daily departures will rise from 484 last

summer to 526 this ​summer.

* United CEO Scott Kirby asserted this week that American

would lose about $1 billion on its Chicago operations this year

and suggested it added flights to counter American: "We didn't

want to do it... but we couldn't lose gates."

* American said in a memo this month that United's

"reckless" scheduling at O'Hare ​will lead ⁠to "long taxi times,

extensive tarmac delays, missed customer connections, disrupted

crew sequencing and cascading disruptions across the system."