McDonald's Corporation hops to Chicago Midway week of NRA Show prep

McDonald's Corporation's Gulfstream G600, tail number N1955M, departed DuPage Airport at 6:09 p.m. local time on May 10, 2026, touching down at Chicago Midway International Airport just 16 minutes later after a low-altitude jaunt over the city's western suburbs. The brief flight, topping out at 2,875 feet and 272 knots, kept the corporate bird within the greater Chicago airspace, a stone's throw from the company's headquarters downtown.

This intra-city maneuver arrives the same week McDonald's gears up for the National Restaurant Association Show, set for May 16 to 19 at McCormick Place, mere miles from Midway. The event, the world's largest foodservice trade show per the association's site, draws thousands for demos on everything from AI kitchens to sustainable sourcing—timely as McDonald's rolls out 2026 menu tweaks amid supply chain squeezes, as noted in a Reuters report earlier this month.

The hop echoes recent patterns, with the jet shuttling between Chicago and Minneapolis on May 7 and 8, likely for regional strategy sessions following the Q1 earnings release on May 7 that showed 3.8% global sales growth. Such quick repositionings highlight the quiet logistics of a fast-food empire's spring sprint, virtual shareholder meeting on May 20 notwithstanding.