Peoria Station

Just minutes apart, a B-17, B-25 and B-24 depart Peoria International Airport early Friday afternoon, July 27, 2018.  - David P. Jordan

As 1980 passed the baton to 1981, there was reason for optimism. Details of weekday departures per Ozark Air Lines' December 15, 1980 timetable offers evidence. Baltimore /1 flight, DC-9 (continues to LGA) Cedar Rapids /2 flights, DC-9, DC-9 (2nd continued to MSP) Champaign-Urbana /2 flights, DC-9 (continues to BWI* & LGA), DC-9 Chicago-O'Hare /3 flights, DC-9, DC-9, DC-9 Denver /2 flights, DC-9, DC-9 Detroit-Metro /1 flight, DC-9 Indianapolis /2 flights, DC-9 (continues to BNA & TPA), DC-9 Minneapolis-St. Paul /1 flight, DC-9 Moline /2 flights, DC-9, DC-9 St. Louis /3 flights, DC-9 (continues to MCO), DC-9, DC-9 (3rd continues to DFW) Springfield (IL) /2 flights, DC-9 (continues to STL & COU), DC-9 (continues to STL) * Baltimore/Washington International Airport changed its three-letter code from BAL to BWI effective October 26, 1980 . Weekday departures had risen from 20 to 21 and there were now two nonstops to Denver (one return flight continued ...

Sometimes, Peoria's newspaper of record shocks us with actual journalism. On Thursday, pjstar.com ran a timely story on its website reporting Peoria International Airport's June passenger numbers. It was short and totally dependent on the airport's press release, but at least it was posted. Then Sunday afternoon, it posted an in depth story on rising passenger numbers but also challenges facing small airport's like Peoria's. The article tells us, "Three of the four airlines at the airport had significant increases in passengers in May compared to May of last year..." It doesn't reveal which ones, but the one carrier least likely to have "had significant increases in passengers" is United Express. Then we learn rankings by passengers that month. “During May, American was the biggest” in Peoria in terms of passengers,” [airport director Gene] Olson said. “Allegiant was second, Delta third, United fourth. It definitely does v...

Until late Thursday morning, July 12, I had never been able to capture a rail movement of military equipment. By Sunday afternoon, I had done so twice. The first was a movement of Illinois Army National Guard vehicles to Fort Polk, Louisiana. According to a news release on the Illinois National Guard's Facebook page , About 200 vehicles from the Illinois Army National Guard will load onto rail cars at the Rock Island Arsenal (RIA) July 9-13, as part of a deployment to the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) at Fort Polk, Louisiana. The Iowa Interstate Railroad, which has access to the rarely-used Rock Island Arsenal trackage, assembled the train and placed on the rear of an already lengthy Blue Island, Illinois to Council Bluffs, Iowa freight, BICB. Union Pacific will handle the train from Council Bluffs to Fort Polk, Louisiana. I shot video of the 160-car train shortly after it departed the Silvis, Illinois Yard at 1115 on Thursday. Military loads began at the 9:...

Peoria Int'l Airport is reporting June 2018 passenger traffic... ...and it was the facility's best monthly passenger tally! Per press release Thursday, July 12 , PIA handled 64,784 passengers last month, breaking the prior record - 62, 645 just in March of this year. The best part, PIA's overall passenger count is also currently tracking 6 percent higher than the airport's best year ever: 2015. PIA saw a total 641,671 passengers in 2015. If it holds through the end of 2018, a 6 percent increase would give PIA an annual passenger count of 680,000. It remains to be seen, however, if Frontier Airlines' return to nearby Bloomington-Normal this fall, with nonstops to Denver and Orlando, will have an impact on local traffic. - David P. Jordan

Champaign/Urbana's Willard Airport gets bad news and good news.  United Express will end its three daily roundtrips between Willard and Chicago-O'Hare on September 5, citing a pilot shortage . Service began June 8, 2017 and gave the facility a surge in passenger traffic. In 2017, Willard saw a 12 percent rise in traffic  with a total of 104,596 passengers thanks to United Express' mid-year addition of 150 daily seats in each direction. The last time the facility handled 100,000 travelers was in 2007. The good news is that American Eagle, Willard's only other carrier, is offering a single daily nonstop to American Airlines' Charlotte hub beginning December 19 . I'm sure Bloomington/Normal would have preferred to get Charlotte service (and might still) over Champaign/Urbana, but at least they can bask in the glow of Frontier Airlines' resumption of service this fall.  - David P. Jordan

To understand events of 1980, we must begin in late-1979. The completion of the Interstate 474 bypass (and Airport Road interchange) on December 20 that year expanded PIA's catchment area, but unfortunately failed to compensate for an increasingly difficult period in local aviation history.  The UAW Local 974 struck area Caterpillar Tractor Company plant on October 1, 1979, forcing a reduction in manufacturing and logistics operations. The walkout ended in mid-December but reduced corporate (and probably leisure) travel, impacting passenger traffic at the Greater Peoria Airport. On October 6, 1979 the Federal Reserve changed its monetary policy as a means to slay inflation, resulting in much higher interest rates. Already suffering from rising unemployment, the national economy plunged into recession from January to July 1980. From May 5 through June 1, Ozark Air Lines was shut down due to a mechanic's strike. As a consequence of each event noted above, PIA passenger...

They did it again! Don't get me wrong, I'm glad the Peoria Journal Star is covering this story , but the local newspaper of record is going to confuse future historians. Tuesday's article on truck shipments of wind turbine components stored in the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard contained a typically obnoxious error. The first of more than 900 oversized truckloads of wind turbine parts have exited the TP&W railyard in East Peoria, bound for a wind farm in Bureau County. Who knows how the reporter bungled this. He wasn't familiar with local railroad facilities so he relies on what people tell him, or forgets what he is told. Someone with the East Peoria Police Department or East Peoria Public Works might have told him it was a TP&W yard or the reporter was told "TZPR" (or "T&P") and he could only remember "TP&W."  Anyway, as components are moving out of East Peoria, there is room fo...