Peoria Station

           A Frontier Airlines Airbus A-319 is shown May 1, 2010 about to land at Milwaukee’s Mitchell Int’l Airport

The Pantagraph is now reporting Frontier Airlines’ interest in returning to Central Illinois Regional Airport:

Frontier Airlines confirmed its interest in the Twin City market Friday, and Bloomington Mayor Steve Stockton said Washington, D.C., and Denver are “high-priority destinations” for any new carrier.

Peoria may be interested in Frontier decision because the airline compete with United Express’ Peoria-Denver route, which has been in continuous operation since October 2007. Flights are operated on most days by ExpressJet Airlines on a 50-seat Embraer 145. Hopefully, new competition will bring lower fares.

- David P. Jordan

Sometimes this is just too easy.

Shortly after AirTran Airways announced it was ending its service to Bloomington-Normal, I predicted they’d target Allegiant Air as a “replacement” carrier.

And they did. Twice-weekly Orlando (Sanford) nonstops begin May 16.

I also predicted they’d target Frontier Airlines in this post.

Frontier Airlines – Having already served CIRA in 1997-2001, Frontier may be an opportunity for CIRA. There is precedent for this: On December 15, the carrier starts thrice-weekly Rockford-Denver flights. The original Frontier Airlines served Rockford for two years until its 1986 bankruptcy. If CIRA offered incentives to Fronter, they might secure similar service.

Sure enough, today’s Pantagraph confirms my prediction.

One carrier under consideration is Frontier Airlines, which ended local air service to Denver in 2001.

If CIRA officials lure Frontier Airlines to their city, it would give United Express’ Peoria-Denver route some competition. But given recent trends, flights may be limited to a thrice-weekly schedule. I fully expect the airline to start CIRA-Denver flights if incentives are offered. Twin jet Airbus A-318′s would likely be used.

CIRA is working diligently to fill the gap that will be left when AirTran Airways leaves on June 3, yet they will be hardpressed to attract new airline service beyond limited frequency flights offered by Allegiant Air and Frontier Airlines.

UPDATE (Jan. 27): A commenter notes WGLT Radio is reporting that Frontier will next week announce quad-weekly flights between CIRA and Denver. See article here. Most interesting is that service to Washington’s Reagan National Airport is “in the works.”

- David P. Jordan

 The Illinois & Midland RR’s Powerton Roadswitcher is shown in a videocapture approaching County Highway 7 located about half-way Powerton and Manito.

Back in November, I mentioned my lack of recent photos/video of the Illinois & Midland Railroad’s Powerton Roadswitcher. I posted a profile of this train regardless but had to use material from early 2010. I knew this train made a Powerton-Havana-Powerton run on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings (departing around 9:00) but couldn’t catch it on account of working office hours. Fortunately, having off Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s holiday finally afforded me the opportunity for a chase.

ABOUT THE TRAIN – The Illinois & Midland Railroad, a subsidiary of Greenwich, Connecticut-based Genesee & Wyoming, Inc., is primarily a coal-hauler and serves power plants at Powerton, Havana and Ellis, and a rail-to-barge dock at Havana. But it handles a small volume of carload freight as well.

In the past, IMRR operated “through” local trains between Springfield and East Peoria, but reduced traffic levels in recent years have Powerton (Pekin) and Shops (Springfield) yard jobs swapping traffic at Havana. The former also makes regular runs to sister Tazewell & Peoria Railroad’s East Peoria Yard.

TRAFFIC HANDLED BY THIS TRAIN is primarily found between Pekin and Havana. Aventine Renewable Energy’s original wet corn mill and the newer dry corn mill produce outbound alcohol, distillers’ grain, gluten feed and steepwater traffic; American Milling may receive some ingredients (such as corn screenings) and ship feed pellets; Agridyne LLC ships liquid feed (most of it routed to BNSF destinations) and Illinois Corn Processing LLC ships alcohol and distillers grain. The IMRR-owned barge dock, which is operated by American Milling, receives distillers’ grain and gluten feed from Aventine and perhaps distillers’ grain Illinois Corn Processing as well.

Two customers are located in the vicinity of Powerton/Crescent Yard. First, Midwest Generation LLC receives stray coal loads that were bad-ordered in transit then continued their journey in regular freight service. Then there is Harsco Minerals, which processes power plant cinders into roofing granules and industrial abrasive. Both products are shipped in covered hoppers.

Rickett Grain Company operates elevators at Manito and Forest City, though these days there doesn’t appear to be much regular rail business. In the past, however, organic wheat and corn was shipped in five- and three-car lots, respectively to the Iowa Interstate RR at Peoria (via TZPR), thence to a Chicago connection (CSXT?).

Also at Forest City is Weaver Popcorn Co.’s truck-to-rail facility. The Noblesville, Indiana-based firm used to send seven covered hopper loads at a time to its Van Buren, Indiana processing plant (via Norfolk Southern at Springfield), but now it appears corn is being processed and packaged at the Forest City plant.

So without further adieu, let’s get started on the “thumbnail analysis.” First, check out videos here and here of this train’s January 16, 2012 Havana turn passing through Forest City, Illinois. The train’s pair of EMD SD18′s, Nos. 60-61, ran “elephant style.”

 Seven hoppers marked either KGLX or EXEX denote their destination as Dominion Energy’s Kincaid Generating Station at Ellis (near Pawnee). The cars were bad ordered, switched out of a coal train, repaired and then sent on in regular freight service.

This tank car could have come either Agridyne LLC or Aventine Renewable Energy, but sources indicated tank cars carrying reporting marks “GAMX” are used by the former. Thus, the car contains that company’s “Mix 30″ brand liquid feed. It is probably going to Kansas City Southern at Springfield.

 Eight covered hoppers carrying reporting marks “AEX” are owned by The Andersons Inc., a Maumee, Ohio-based grain and fertilizer firm. Similar cars have been reported moving empty to Peoria in quantity on BNSF’s “Peoria Local,” thus it is likely they’re bound for temporary storage. Given their age, probably prior to sale to a scrapper.

These two covered hoppers are used for plastic (granule/pellet) shipments, and are bound for IMRR’s Shops Yard, where contents are transloaded to Springfield Plastics trucks.

I should mention that IMRR often receives boxcar loads of lumber from BNSF at E. Peoria for the lumber re-load in Springfield.

NOTE: Given known information about this train’s consist, it can be confirmed that 17 of 18 cars were received in interchange from BNSF.

The return train can be seen in the second video link. Basically, the Powerton Switcher crew left engine No. 61 and 18 cars at Havana for the Shops Switcher crew then returned on engine No. 60 with an empty steepwater tank car. Given the short train, I see no need to provide further details.

- David P. Jordan

I didn’t see this article online, and only discovered this evening that it appeared in the Journal Star’s January 18, 2012 print edition. But better late than never, right?

I guess it’s good news that Peoria Int’l Airport saw a 0.4% increase in passengers in 2011 vs. 2010. Yet 2010 saw a 3.9% increase over 2009′s depressed (but still higher than any year between 1979 and 2005) numbers.

The reason PIA has not yet come close its its 2008 record of 564,988 is that Allegiant Air has reduced capacity to Las Vegas since starting Moline service in late 2010. Another reason is that Delta [Connection] curtailed then dropped altogether its PIA-ATL route in 2009.

But since the Atlanta route is coming back April 9, PIA should see a healthy increase in travelers, and as AirTran Airways withdraws from Bloomington-Normal June 3, leakage to the Central Illinois Regional Airport should end (save for passengers wanting to fly nonstop to Orlando, Florida on Allegiant Air beginning May 16).

Plus, director Gene Olson told the Journal Star, “I’m optimistic that Atlanta will not be the only city we see this year.”

Perhaps Allegiant Air will soon announce nonstop service to Punta Gorda (Fort Myers), Florida? Olson seems to be hinting of the possibility. And the airline’s facebook page says a “big announcement” is coming next week (some our speculating that long-planned Hawaii flights may finally begin).

Stay tuned.

- David P. Jordan

Soon, I will post a detailed analysis on Norfolk Southern’s D46D train. But first, I mentioned here that if I ever saw Illinois & Midland’s Powerton Roadswitcher make an Havana turn, I’d post another detailed analysis.

Well…I did see it.

Last Monday in fact. So I’ll post this one before the NS train. Meanwhile, feel free to post your questions and comments. I’ll answer them as best I can.

- David P. Jordan

I guess they have to spin it somehow. Per Journal Star online article about Allegiant Air starting twice-weekly flights from Bloomington-Normal to Orlando (Sanford), Florida May 16:

Gene Olson, director of airports for the Metropolitan Airport Authority of Peoria, said he believes Allegiant moving into Bloomington will have no impact on service out of Peoria.

Obviously, I don’t agree. Of course this will impact Peoria. Allegiant’s Orlando flights should be out of Peoria, not Bloomington. But below is perhaps a silver lining, or rather a clue about future serrvice:

“I don’t see any reductions here in Peoria. If anything, my hope is that we will add some places,” Olson said, adding whether on Allegiant or another airlines, he would like to see additional destinations, including to Florida. “We have a colony of people from Peoria who reside part of the year in the Fort Myers area.”

Fort Myers (Punta Gorda) is one of Allegiant Air’s “focus cities.” Nonstops are now offered to Greensboro (NC), Greenville/Spartanburg (SC), Knoxville (TN) and Lexington (KY). Perhaps Peoria will get flights in the near future.

- David P. Jordan

Bloomington-Normal’s Central Illinois Regional Airport can rejoice that they’ve snatched twice-weekly nonstops to Orlando-Sanford International Airport on Allegiant Air beginning May 16. But the airline industry suffers turbulence, and AirTran Airways’…er, Southwest Airlines’…decision to withdraw service June 3 may not be the last cutbacks CIRA must endure.

I don’t normally give much credibility to anonymous comments to newspaper articles (as so many demonstrate profound ignorance or downright stupidity), but found this one rather interesting:

AMsaid on: January 17, 2012, 5:35 pm United isn’t coming back to BMI.  And American’s  announcement they are leaving will be made soon.  A direct flight to Orlando  Sanford isn’t much of a catch.  It is a good flight if you’re going no further though.

“AM” appears rather confident of his/her prediction. As you already know, AMR Corporation, parent of American Airlines and American Eagle Airlines, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on November 29. Almost immediately, aircraft were parked and marginal routes were cut. More to come.

Might AA decide to reduce service to the central Illinois region? Take a look at this map showing American Connection/Eagle routes serving downstate Illinois.

Peoria (PIA) and the Quad Cities (MLI) are important markets for American Airlines’ regional partners. Both metro areas have about 379,000 residents. American Eagle has a contract with FlightStar Corporation for cleaning and maintenance on five Embraer 145 regional jets at Champaign’s Willard Airport, and American Airlines regional partners are the sole providers of commercial airline service at this facility. American Eagle recently began offering Springfield twice-daily nonstops to Dallas/Ft. Worth, replacing American Connection’s twice-daily service to Chicago-O’Hare and increasing their business as a result.

So if cutbacks are to be made, it seems CIRA is the one that will take the brunt. The commenter might be strictly referring to American Eagle’s lone daily CIRA-DFW roundtrip. If American Connection withdrew, CIRA would lose its last connection to Chicago-O’Hare. All passengers using these flights change planes anyway and alternatively could connect via Delta [Connection] over Detroit, but such a loss would be symbolically devastating.

Unless he/she is an airline employee with inside knowledge, the commenter may just be speculating, but cutbacks are inevitable. Those 50- and 44-seat regional jets will be retired someday. Larger jets will replace them, and not one-to-one either. Regionalization of air service is going to be a factor too. CIRA boasts the advantage of centralization, but the region is too large to be served by just one airport. Thus, I see Champaign/Urbana, Peoria and Springfield as safer bets as long-term destinations for American Connection/Eagle.

- David P. Jordan

WEEK TV-25 is reporting that Allegiant Air starts service to Bloomington-Normal’s Central Illinois Regional Airport (CIRA) on May 16. So it’s official: Peoria has lost out to Bloomington on another air service opportunity.

At the very least, this is disappointing. Peoria should have been first in line to get this route. After all, we had it twice before. It failed due to AirTran’s service out of CIRA. There was simply too much capacity and too few passengers for both airlines to sustain profitable services from central Illinois.

Questions need to be asked. What incentives did CIRA offer Allegiant? Did Peoria airport officials just assume Allegiant would simply restore the Orlando (Sanford) route without persuasion? While CIRA’s geographical advantage is likely a factor, it isn’t the only one. Allegiant, after all, already flies to Peoria.

It goes to show that having a new terminal is not everything.

- David P. Jordan

Central Illinois Regional Airport is set to announce new air service at a news conference Tuesday morning. Interestingly, this comes as Allegiant Air posted this on its facebook page:

We are announcing a new route in a new city tomorrow! Can you guess what city we will be getting Allegiant vacations to Orlando?

There are already 246 comments. Interestingly, Peoria’s former airport director Ken Spirito has guessed “Bloomington, IL.” I find this to be rather cryptic (Allegiant serves Patrick Henry Int’l Airport, where Spirito serves as director).

Is it possible that CIRA has succeeded in snatching Allegiant Air from Peoria? I warned about this possibility here. Another possibility is that CIRA has persuaded Allegiant to start Orlando service from there instead of Peoria (leaving Peoria’s existing routes intact for now). I don’t know the answer, and personally doubt this, but brace yourself for the possibility anyway.

UPDATE (Jan. 17): I can confirm that Allegiant Air is in fact adding Orlando (Sanford), Florida service to Bloomington instead of Peoria. The airline lists Bloomington as a destination on its website. Admittedly, this is frustrating, but there has been talk that Allegiant Air is upset with Peoria airport officials (details unknown). Perhaps this is a way to warn them.

- David P. Jordan

Aviation consultant Michael Boyd is comparing the proposed new airport at Peotone with Mid-America Airport. In other words, the former will end up like the latter: A failure.

The Journal Star is carrying the Associated Press article here. The most frustrating thing is the shallow justification for a new Chicago airport by Illinois’ governor.

 It would be the Chicago area’s third major airport. The Peotone airport’s supporters, including Gov. Pat Quinn, say the project will create jobs and provide needed relief at O’Hare and Midway.

 ”We firmly believe the South Suburban Airport will benefit the people of Illinois and provide much-needed infrastructure, jobs and potential for economic growth,” Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Guy Tridgell said in an email.

Let’s look at this one a little more closely: “…provide needed relief for O’Hare and Midway.”

Quinn’s predecessor (no need to name him) signed the O’Hare Modernization Act on August 6, 2003. Underway for the past several years, the $6.6 billion program to expand Chicago-O’Hare International Airport through reconfiguration of the facility’s runways and taxiways will increase capacity up to 60 percent. Likewise, Chicago Midway International Airport opened a new, 43-gate terminal in 2004.

These investments enable both airports to handle Chicago’s air traffic needs for decades to come. There is no need for a third. Furthermore, airlines already serving O’Hare and Midway airports have no need to duplicate services at a South Suburban Airport. And those which do not already serve Chicago are few and far between.

Sadly, our brilliant governor believes that wasting taxpayer dollars on temporary construction jobs justifies a permanent boondoggle.

- David P. Jordan