The General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport has a new director. Gene Olson, currently serving as assistant airport manager at Evansville Regional Airport in Indiana, will take the helm on June 15.
Olson is a native Peoria. Having gone on to Augustana College in Rock Island after graduating from Peoria High School in 1979, he left the city at a time when Ozark Air Lines offered daily nonstop and direct flights to nearby Chicago-O’Hare and St. Louis but also to major destinations such as Baltimore/Washington, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Detroit, Indianapolis, Louisville, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York-LaGuardia and Tampa. Continental Airlines offered a daily flight to Los Angeles (via Kansas City, switched to Denver in June). Commuters such as Air Illinois, Britt Airways, Brower Airways, Coleman Air Transport and Mississippi Valley Airlines also served Peoria.
Olson said that keeping existing air service will be his No. 1 priority. Hopefully, the recession will soon bottom out, and he can then concentrate on bringing additional service to the city.
- David P. Jordan
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