Peoria Station

After Friday’s less-than-spectacular results, I managed Wednesday morning to capture the takeoff of Peoria Int’l Airport’s largest regular visitor, the United Parcel Service Airbus A300-600F. As on Friday, Runway 13-31 was closed, so Runway 4 handled arrivals and departures. The FedEx Boeing 757-200C arrived from Memphis before the UPS jet departed. The UPS jet was a little late, [...]

[Read more]

Summer is upon us so it time for the annual update on Peoria’s commercial airline service! Although the national economy has been sluggish the past several years, Gen. Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport posted record-breaking passenger numbers in 2012. Restoration of Delta Connection flights to Atlanta starting April 9, 2012, new Allegiant Air flights [...]

[Read more]

A year ago today, I got up early and drove to the Peoria International Airport to get video of both early morning air cargo flights, the departing United Parcel Service Airbus Industries A300-600F to Rockford and the arriving FedEx Boeing 727-200C from Memphis. That evening, I also got video of the Mountain Air Cargo/FedEx Feeder [...]

[Read more]

Delta Air Lines begins flying an Airbus A319 on a second roundtrip between Bloomington-Normal’s Central Illinois Regional Airport (CIRA) and Atlanta this afternoon. Delta Flt# 835 is scheduled to arrive CIRA at 4:18pm, and  is scheduled to depart for Atlanta at 5:24. Delta added A319 service on March 2-3, arriving each evening and departing in the [...]

[Read more]

It left early. Twenty-nine minutes to be exact. 6:31 am. About 30 minutes earlier, I was driving down I-474 and the news announcer on WMBD Radio 1470 said the plane was taking off NOW! I nearly turned around to resume my sleep. Fortunately, I pressed on, got off on Airport Road and saw the chartered [...]

[Read more]

Good news for Bloomington-Normal’s Central Illinois Regional Airport. Bad news for Peoria International Airport. On October 1, American Eagle will add a second daily nonstop roundtrip to Dallas/Ft. Worth. A single daily roundtrip began back in November 2008. See CIRA press release here. The new flight will leave CIRA at 6:55 am and arrive back [...]

[Read more]

The Greater Peoria Honor Flight is tomorrow morning. According to the Journal Star, the chartered flight to Washington, DC departs Peoria Int’l Airport at 7:00 Tuesday morning. It will return at 9:00 that evening. The public is invited to greet the veterans upon their return. Details here. Sometimes, websites like Flightaware.com tell us scheduled arrivals and [...]

[Read more]

Gen. Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport’s former terminal on the last day, April 26, 2011 Back in December 2010, I began a series to tell the story of Peoria’s recently replaced airline terminal building, and its usage by numerous airlines over the years. Operations at the former terminal began on May 1, 1959 and lasted through April [...]

[Read more]

A commenter says Frontier Airlines is planning to drop its nonstop flights between Bloomington-Normal’s Central Illinois Regional Airport and Orlando (International), Florida. I’ve yet to see a local media source for this bit of news, but if true, then Frontier Airlines blinked and Allegiant Air won the Central Illinois – Central Florida market. As far as a [...]

[Read more]

Good news for Central Illinois airports. WEEK TV-25′s website is reporting that five downstate Illinois airports who’s control towers were scheduled to lose FAA funding June 15, will continue to be funded. There is also good news for Peoria International Airport. In April, Congress passed legislation to redistribute funding and avoid air-traffic controller furloughs. Earlier this [...]

[Read more]