…for Peoria, Illinois – my hometown.
A regular commenter has accused me of “a lack of love for CIRA and Bloomington-Normal.” And he’s correct, but this blog is called “PeoriaStation” not “Bloomington-NormalStation.” I advocate PIA, not CIRA. 
The issue is over my analysis (which goes back more than a year) that if American Eagle/American Connection decided to eliminate one of four central Illinois stations, Bloomington-Normal’s Central Illinois Regional Airport would get the short stick. Here’s my reasoning on that:
(1) Recall that in late 2000, American Eagle announced its intention to exit the CIRA-ORD market. This move came just after coverting all of its flights to regional jets. The airline was to have exited CIRA in January 2001, but due to political pressure, decided to stay. About the same time, AA and TWA announced their merger plans. Integration of the two carriers was sped up following 9/11 and the operational merger took place December 2001. But the airline industry was hit hard by 9/11 so service cutbacks were inevitable. AA could connect CIRA travelers via the ex-TWA St. Louis hub (via American Connection) and so it went ahead and dropped CIRA-ORD flights in November 2002. A year later, AA downsized its STL hub and resumed CIRA-ORD regional jet flights (remaining STL turboprop flights ended in late 2005).
(2) State Farm Insurance Co is said to be a huge generator of airline business travelers to regional offices in Atlanta, Tampa, Dallas, Phoenix, etc. I don’t doubt this, but American Eagle’s CIRA-DFW nonstop didn’t start because of State Farm. Instead it was because United Express announced July 3, 2008 that it would end all CIRA flights on November 2. On August 12, 2008 AE announced that a single daily CIRA-DFW nonstop would begin November 2. Coincidence? Nope.
(3) Four airports in the central Illinois region have nonstop DFW flights. This service developed after American Airlines downsized (and eventually closed) its ex-TWA St. Louis hub on November 1, 2003. Peoria’s would come first on July 15, 2004 (a year or so after United Express dropped PIA-DEN). Champaign-Urbana got its DFW nonstop second, on April 4, 2005 (probably in part because of the maintenance contractor located there).
(4) In April 2002, CIRA applied for Small Community Air Service Development (SCASD) funds to entice an airline to provide service to a western hub. Candidates to offer thus service, as stated in CIRA’s application, were Houston (Continental Express) and Denver (Frontier Jet Express). At the time, no central Illinois airport had DFW service. Apparently, CIRA officials didn’t see hope of getting any (State Farm employees probably used AirTran via Atlanta anyway). State Farm’s DFW-area presence is expected to grow considerably, but how this might generate more business travel from CIRA isn’t clear.
(5) State Farm business travel to the DFW area may not be as reliable for CIRA as one would think. For one thing, the Bloomington-based insurance company generates mainly domestic business travel. Passengers using AA’s DFW nonstop for travel to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area pay a premium for convenience. It is likely cheaper to fly CIRA-ORD-DFW. It’s even cheaper to drive to St. Louis and fly Southwest Airlines nonstop to Dallas-Love Field.
(6) Caterpillar generates considerable business travel out of its Peoria-area facilities. Much of this is to international markets (for which AA encourages making a DFW connection). Caterpillar has a number of manufacturing and distribution facilities in Texas: Denison (drills), Kilgore (rebuilt surface mining equipment), Waco (work tools, parts distribution and regional distribution center), Seguin (off-highway engines) and Victoria (hydraulic excavators), but also Mexico (Unit Rig truck plant in Acuna; steel fabrication and parts distribution at Monterrey, and offices in Mexico City) and Panama City. DFW is an excellent hub to use when traveling to these domestic and international points (not to mention numerous supplier facilities all over the southwest and Mexico). PIA has three DFW nonstops after all.
So tell me where I’m wrong. Let me have it 
- David P. Jordan
12 responses so far ↓
1 Dave // Feb 10, 2013 at 10:11 pm
Hey David, thanks for the shout out! Please please never change your blog name from Peoria Station, just wouldn’t sound right…I was taught as a youngster to stand up for your thoughts and beliefs, but there is no reason to diminish your (in this case) competition along the way. Be proud for what you do have, not worrying about what anyone else has. Do what you do best. Cream always rises to the top.
Regarding the 4 different central Illinois airports having DFW service, I only took exception when you seem to insinuate ” the weak” CIRA could be on the losing end should AA want to consolidate flights to DFW…in my opinion, a very strong possibility that consolidation will eventually happen because the area is over saturated. It sure appears to be sour grapes to think “the weak” CIRA will be left out in the cold however. My response states with reason that SF DOES hold clout in BL-NL whether you believe it or not…with them beefing up employment in Dallas, why would a carrier drop service from the same town as a large business with its corporate headquarters? That would force SF to send their workforce either to Peoria or the mighty Champ-Urb? Common sense says your beliefs are more sour grapes than simple logic..David, I sure could be wrong, but I don’t think so…
Here is the difference between your thoughts and mine. You live in Peoria, and I don’t. You seem to enjoy taking shots at CIRA (for some reason, I’m not sure why)…me, I love the Peoria airport because it sometime gets me to where I need to go, and its only 40 miles away! (And free parking to compete with CIRA) I absolutely see NO reason to criticize PIA…you come over and shoot video and cover CIRA, but still find it necessary to downplay the importance for both airports to co-exist. Don’t think either is going away.
Keep up the good info in your airline blogs. You provide good stuff, but the extra opinunated commentary doesn’t serve a point. Cheers!
2 David P. Jordan // Feb 10, 2013 at 10:51 pm
why would a carrier drop service from the same town as a large business with its corporate headquarters? That would force SF to send their workforce either to Peoria or the mighty Champ-Urb? Common sense says your beliefs are more sour grapes than simple logic
Prior to November 2, 2008, State Farm employees had to drive to PIA or CMI or make a connection at ORD. And as for clout, that didn’t keep AirTran Airways from pulling out…
Honestly, I wish CIRA the best, because if CIRA maintains good service, it generally keeps PIA on its toes. Prior to the original AirTran’s entry into CIRA on December 19, 1996, PIA officials were all talk and no action, or plagued with bad luck (reportedly, they were talking to Valujet just prior to the May 1996 Everglades crash). Once CIRA started booming with LLC service, PIA got into gear. After several years of stumbles (i. e. AccessAir), things began looking up with DL to Atlanta and eventually G4.
3 Dave // Feb 11, 2013 at 7:24 am
You’re second paragraph says a lot and is on point. Regarding “the clout”, you and I both know CIRA was NOT going to survive Southwests take over. Nobody in the midwest can support their business model and can support a minimum of 6 flights a day to the same destination, so your feelings on clout holds no water…State Farm has their preferred carriers, and do not use PIA, SPI, CMI, or DEC unless its an absolute necessity…they have always used CIRA with connecting, to service their needs. The STL service was used heavily and they still killed it…my only point was you call CIRA “weak” when that is the furthest from reality. They thrived when they opened their new terminal, taking a share from PIA. Now PIA opens a great new terminal, is thriving taking business from CIRA…(they do mine!) I think it’s a win win for Central IL. I could care less which one I fly out of…their both GREAT!
4 David P. Jordan // Feb 11, 2013 at 10:30 am
Hi Dave,
Perhaps a better way to put it is that CIRA is “weakened” after losing AirTran Airways and its low-fare, multi-frequency Atlanta connections. The loss of this LCC service has apparently ended much of CIRA’s fare advantage to most markets, and the distortion [in CIRA's favor] it caused. Delta’s quick decision to resume thrice-daily PIA-ATL nonstops is the best indicator of this.
I’d say as long as CMI endures an AA monopoly, DEC has only Air Choice One, and as long as it has the region’s sole Orlando service, CIRA will be able to maintain a healthy passenger volume, both of its legacy carriers and potentially see new NYC/WAS service in the near future.
5 Dave // Feb 11, 2013 at 3:49 pm
Ah, now THERE you got something!
I will not argue with the fact CIRA has been hurt with the loss of Air Tran, and has not fulfilled their vacancy (passengers) with Frontier or Allegiant addition. I think it is still to young to determine if Frontier is “seeing the numbers” or not since starting up in May/June. Next year will be the tall tell sign when you can see an annual number of passengers, which then can figure in holiday travel, peak season, etc. for 1 year. Keep up the good work!
6 Vonster // Feb 11, 2013 at 3:52 pm
Am I wrong to not really like the fact that service availability to PIA or CIRA are dependent on corporate traffic?
7 Vonster // Feb 11, 2013 at 3:54 pm
If these giants decided to start shippping their imported talent by train, we’d have service to Peoria practically overnight.
8 David P. Jordan // Feb 11, 2013 at 4:03 pm
Vonster,
PIA and CIRA both get a lot of leisure traffic as well. Probably the majority of their passengers are leisure. But business travel usually rates full fare and is most profitable for the airlines.
Intercity train travel is generally short-haul, whereas air travel is medium- to long-haul. No one flying PIA-ORD is ending their journey at Chicago. Rather, they’re making connections there. Peoria’s flights to more distant hubs like ATL, DFW and DEN handle both connecting traffic and point-to-point traffic because those places are themselves destinations for business and leisure travelers.
9 vonster // Feb 12, 2013 at 7:29 am
From what I’ve been seeing, the other end of those corporate flights is Lahore or Delhi.
10 David P. Jordan // Feb 12, 2013 at 9:59 am
From what I’ve been seeing, the other end of those corporate flights is Lahore or Delhi
Yep…and don’t forget Beijing, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
11 Vonster // Feb 12, 2013 at 6:29 pm
Just to clarify, the point is they are hiring from overseas, for low wages, not the US.
12 logistics // Feb 13, 2013 at 5:19 pm
I won’t use names but I know of one central IL insurer that runs a van service for its people to STL.
When it was discussed with me, the cost savings per run averaged between $500-1000 per run rather than flying from Central IL airports compared to Lambert.
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