Peoria Station

Northwest Airlink is expanding at Bloomington-Normal’s Central Illinois Regional Airport, the Pantagraph reports. Beginning June 4, the airline will offer a daily roundtrip between CIRA and Minneapolis/St. Paul (a hub for Delta’s subsidiary, Northwest Airlines). The service was last offered in 2003. A 50-seat Canadair Regional Jet will be used for the new flight. Also on that day, a third daily roundtrip to Detroit resumes, and will be operated with a 50-seat Canadair Regional Jet (jet service to Detroit began March 2).  The other roundtrip will be operated by a 33-seat Saab 340 turboprop.

At the same time Northwest Airlink expands its offerings, Delta Connection increases seating capacity by operating all five daily roundtrips to Atlanta with 70-seat Canadair Regional Jets. Obviously, the airline’s use of these aircraft, and the frequency of service, is a direct challenge to AirTran Airways, which offers three daily roundtrips in that market on 117-seat Boeing 717-200’s.

Congratulations to Bloomington-Normal for getting expanded service. The four airlines which service the city – AirTran, American Eagle, Delta Connection and Northwest Airlink – will by June 4, 2009 offer nonstop service to the following destinations:

Atlanta
Chicago-O’Hare
Dallas/Fort Worth
Detroit
Minneapolis/St. Paul
Orlando

When these new flights start, CIRA will see 17-18 daily departures.

Neither Delta nor Northwest plan any service expansion at Peoria on that date.

- David P. Jordan