Peoria Station

PEORIA – A year ago, the Greater Peoria Regional Airport got a new name – General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport. And construction began on a new terminal building. Coinciding with these events, the national economy took a tumble, and now a year later, the consequences have caught up with the airport.

Atlantic Southeast Airlines dba Delta Connection, ended nonstop Peoria – Atlanta flights at the end of August, and come January 6, Mesaba Airlines, now also under Delta Air Lines’s umbrella, will reduce Peoria – Minneapolis/St. Paul service by one-third. That will leave the following service at PIA in January 2010:

 - Allegiant Air – Las Vegas (4 roundtrips weekly), Phoenix-Mesa (2 roundtrips weekly) and St. Petersburg/Clearwater (2 roundtrips weekly)

- American Eagle – Chicago-O’Hare (4 daily roundtrips) and Dallas/Fort Worth (2 daily roundtrips)

- Delta Connection – Detroit Metro (2 daily roundtrips) and Minneapolis/St. Paul (2 daily roundtrips)

- United Express – Chicago-O’Hare (4 daily roundtrips) and Denver (1 daily roundtrip)

In January 2010, Peoria Int’l Airport will have just 16-17 daily departures to eight destinations. Passenger totals for 2009 will probably be 15-20% below 2008’s record 564,000 figure. All of this is the result of the “worst downturn since the end of World War Two.”

Not good.

But not hopeless, either.  Peoria has been through this before. The last time, we lost service to both Denver and Detroit, in 2003. Both returned in 2007. Can we expect to see Atlanta service come back? Possibly, if the business travel market returns. And it will, though bad economic policy at both state and federal levels can stunt a full recovery. But when the new terminal goes into operation in either late 2010, or more likely, early 2011, we can celebrate downstate Illinois’ newest airline passenger facility and look forward to years of growth.

- David P. Jordan