PIA - A History: Events of 1981

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 to stop at Waterloo). Nonstop New York service was gone but second daily service to that market continued via Baltimore.

CHANGES ARE A-COMIN'
Freedom of pricing and resulting competitive pressures prompted many airlines to establish hub-and-spoke operations to increase efficiency and reduce costs. Prior to deregulation (1978), St. Louis had been a de-facto hub for Ozark Air Lines, primarily to feed American, Delta, Eastern and TWA trunk routes. At the time, the airline offered nonstops from there to just a handful of major markets - Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Nashville.

By the end of 1979, Ozark had expanded these offerings to Atlanta, Baltimore, Ft. Lauderdale, Houston (Hobby), Kansas City, Miami, New Orleans, Orlando and Tampa. During 1980, it added nonstops to Louisville, Tulsa and most importantly, Washington DC's slot-restricted National Airport. Short-haul interline connections at Chicago-O'Hare were de-emphasized in favor of enticing travelers to use "Ozark all the way" via St. Louis to key markets in the east, Florida and Texas. As late as December 1980, Ozark appeared content to slowly build its St. Louis hub but also maintain many of its point-to-point routes. Then something changed in 1981.

After deregulation gave airlines freedom of pricing, TWA felt pressure at Chicago-O'Hare from American Airlines and United Air Lines. So in 1979, it began reducing service there and re-scheduled existing St. Louis service into banks, officially making the Gateway City a hub-and-spoke operation with over 100 weekday departures. As Ozark entered new markets, it went from a TWA feeder to a competitor.

A small National carrier, Ozark lacked finances to significantly expand its fleet to grow St. Louis and also maintain many still-profitable point-to-point routes. So the decision was made to begin withdrawing from the majority of them and re-deploy the planes to the expanding St. Louis hub. On March 15, 1981 its LGA-BWI-CMI-PIA-DEN route began stopping at STL in each direction (west of PIA) and the MLI-PIA-BWI-LGA route was eliminated. On April 26, Ozark ended its PIA-STL-DEN routing as well as its the single, daily-except-Saturday roundtrip to Detroit, reducing weekday departures to 16.

Cedar Rapids/1 flight, DC-9 (continues 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/1 flight, DC-9
Indianapolis/2 flights, DC-9 (continues to BNA & TPA), DC-9
Minneapolis-St. Paul/1 flight, DC-9
St. Louis/4 flights, DC-9 (continues to MCO), DC-9, DC-9, DC-9 (continues to DFW)
Springfield (IL)/2 flights, DC-9 (continues to STL & COU), DC-9

TWA RETURNS
Although Trans World Airlines (TWA) had dropped Peoria from its network in 1960, the carrier maintained a local ticket office. Eventually, it generated more business than when the airline served the city. By 1979, TWA considered resuming service. As Ozark built up its St. Louis hub with new destinations, TWA knew it would lose feeder traffic from Peoria. So on April 7, 1981 the airline made it official that it would return. Late that month, it announced that service would begin effective June 4 with four daily departures, two each to Chicago-O'Hare and St. Louis on 106-seat Boeing 727-100s. The airline was pleased with initial passenger traffic and the airport authority studied construction of a 50-seat passenger gate holding area for the airline.

TWA's re-introduction of service was a clear attack on Ozark's market, as it provided same-plane service to both New York's LaGuardia Airport and Washington National Airport in both directions via Chicago-O'Hare. Fare competition caused a boom in passenger traffic, which surged 22 percent in June 1981 (40,819 passengers) compared to the same period in 1980 (33,346 passengers). Of course, during the latter, Ozark Air Lines operated only 75 percent of its schedule for 26 of 30 days. Despite more passengers, lower fares and a significant increase in local seats created an unsustainable situation. On July 1, Ozark reduced its Peoria service to 13 weekday departures. Details below.

Cedar Rapids/1 flight, DC-9 (continues 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
Indianapolis/1 flight, DC-9 (continues to BNA & TPA)
Minneapolis-St. Paul/1 flight, DC-9
St. Louis/4 flights, DC-9, DC-9, DC-9 (continues to BNA), DC-9 (continues to DFW)
Springfield (IL)/1 flight, DC-9 (continues to STL & COU)

Nonstop service to Denver was eliminated, as was its Indianapolis tag-on. Ozark also dropped a Peoria-Springfield (IL)-St. Louis roundtrip. Low fares and existing interline connections with Major airlines (other than TWA) at Chicago-O'Hare justified maintaining three weekday departures to that facility, though there were now only two return flights.

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES NEWS
Although the Ozark-TWA fight grabbed most of the attention, Peoria's other carriers weren't idle in 1981. On April 26, Continental Airlines added a second daily Peoria-Denver roundtrip on a Boeing 727-100, this time routed via Kansas City, restoring Peoria's connection to that city for the first time since 1979. Flights continued to various western cities such as Burbank or Ontario.

In early March, the Civil Aeronautics Board approved Continental's plan to combine with Western Air Lines, but also Texas International Airlines' purchase of 6 million Continental shares. Continental Airlines employees, however, sought to block TI's bid and buy control of their airline by forgoing $185 million in future pay increases. A June 6 article notes that TI then owned 48.5 percent of CO stock.

In early September, Texas International received permission to increase its stock control to 67 percent, thwarting employees' plan. A month later, the Justice Department gave TI the green light to take full control. Change was badly needed as Continental reported deep losses for all of 1980 and the first half of 1981.

COMMUTER AIRLINES
On the commuter front, Britt Airways increased its use of FH-227s from one to two roundtrips on February 15, and increased weekday roundtrips to Chicago-O'Hare from seven to nine with the addition of Bloomington-Normal and Galesburg tag-ons. TWA's introduction of service forced Britt to move from the west end of PIA's concourse to the east end.

Burlington Airways dropped one of two weekday Peoria-Milwaukee roundtrips but added a single weekday roundtrip between Des Moines, Davenport and Peoria. One newspaper report indicates this change occurred in December 1980.

Mississippi Valley Airlines became the first casualty of the Ozark-TWA fare war. Schedules effective April 26 show six weekday roundtrips between Peoria and Chicago-O'Hare, five using Shorts 330s and one using an F-27. Tag-ons to Burlington (two roundtrips) and Ottumwa, Iowa (one roundtrip) gave MVA nine weekday departures. On May 22, Peoria Journal Star reported the airline's decision to drop Peoria on July 1. Interestingly, it claims the carrier's flight schedule had been reduced to three weekday departures to Chicago-O'Hare. This seems unlikely less than a month after the April 26 schedule went into effect and prior to TWA's start of service June 4. MVA published a timetable effective June 15, 1981 so that is probably when O'Hare departures were reduced.

THE PATCO STRIKE
Members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) struck on August 3, 1981. Because the strike was illegal, President Ronald Reagan threatened to fire those who didn't return to their jobs within 48 hours. Most did not. Management, non-striking PATCO members and military and retired controllers took over ATC duties, but the loss of personnel in the tower forced the Federal Aviation Administration to impose restraints on air traffic through a slot allocation program.

The effect devastated PIA's flight schedule. On the day the strike began, Ozark cancelled five departures (two to ORD, one to CMI, BWI & LGA, one to STL & BNA and one to SPI & STL). Continental maintained both roundtrips but ended single-plane through service to Los Angeles. TWA cut its service in half to both ORD and STL. Britt dropped four of eight weekday flights to ORD and Burlington Airways suspended all service.

As controllers remained on strike and restrictions remained in place, adjustments were inevitable. Burlington Airways apparently resumed service shortly but then dropped its Des Moines-Davenport-Peoria-Milwaukee route on Saturday, August 15. On Monday, August 17, the carrier began flying three weekday roundtrips (using 8-seat Piper Chieftains) between Peoria and Chicago-Midway Airport. Two of these roundtrips operated through to Milwaukee. The carrier then ended all service here effective September 11.

TWA suspended its last roundtrip between Peoria and Chicago-O'Hare on September 8 but restored it eight days later at the expense of one Britt Airways roundtrip (which had previously restored two roundtrips). The carrier applied with the FAA to resume its second St. Louis roundtrip.

FAA rules dealing with congestion forced Ozark Air Lines to drop its remaining roundtrip between Peoria and Chicago-O'Hare on October 25. This action ended the carrier's longtime connection between Peoria and the Windy City (first Midway, then O'Hare ) which dated back 27 years to October 1954. Schedules effective October 25 show just nine weekday departures.

Cedar Rapids/1 flight, DC-9 (continues to RST & MSP)
Champaign-Urbana/2 flights, DC-9, DC-9
Indianapolis/1 flight, DC-9 (continues to BNA & TPA)
Minneapolis-St. Paul/1 flight, DC-9
St. Louis/2 flights, DC-9 (continues to MIA & FLL), DC-9 (continued to COU & SGF)
Springfield (IL), 2 flights, DC-9, DC-9 (continues to STL & ATL)

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS
In its March meeting, the Greater Peoria Airport Authority passed a budget for fiscal 1982 ($5.25 million) that was 54 percent lower than in fiscal 1981 ($11.4 million). It blamed the economy and the 1980 Ozark strike for the drop in revenue.

The Peoria Journal Star's May 21 edition contains an ad touting Britt Airways' connections to American Airlines at Chicago-O'Hare International Airport.

Actor, comedian and singer Danny Thomas intended to arrive Peoria August 7 for a St. Jude telethon, but his TWA flight was cancelled due to the PATCO strike.

The National Fertilizer Solutions Association chose Peoria for its headquarters in 1977 based on expanding air service at the Greater Peoria Airport. By late 1981, airline cutbacks caused the association to regret its decision.

SCHEDULES, ROUTE MAP
Due to all the chaos - recession, PATCO strike, Ozark route cutbacks - PIA's traffic dipped below 1976 levels to 391,365 passengers. During the year, Peoria air service peaked between June 4 and 14 when it could boast 45 weekday departures, but I'm using my July 1981 Official Airline Guide as a source. Mississippi Valley Airlines had just left the market, yet the other five carriers still provided 31 weekday departures.

- David P. Jordan