Ask Peoria Station 8-20-18

Time for more Transportation Q & A!

Feel free to post your questions in the comments section on any transportation topic. If I don't have an answer, I'll find one.

- David P. Jordan

Comments

  1. BamBamFunkhouserAugust 20, 2018 at 10:15 AM

    On airliners.net Delta is ending BMI-MSP in the latest OAG release.

    ReplyDelete
  2. David P. JordanAugust 20, 2018 at 10:53 AM

    Thanks...I wonder if Frontier Airlines' new Denver service is a factor?

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownAugust 21, 2018 at 11:27 AM

    I am curious to know when the control tower at Galesburg closed. Was GBG ever a Class D towered field? A pilot myself but can not find much history on what took place there. It would seem that Britt and Ozard used to serve that market. It would be interesting to know a little more about KGBG ops over the years. I believe at one time the field was located off of Henderson St on the north side. Thanks in advance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David P. JordanAugust 21, 2018 at 11:33 PM

      Galesburg Municipal Airport lacks a control tower.

      Delete
  4. David P. JordanAugust 21, 2018 at 11:35 PM

    The present Galesburg Municipal Airport was built in the late 1950s and dedicated on May 30, 1960. Ozark Air Lines began two daily flights in each direction between Chicago, Galesburg and St. Louis with DC-3s on August 1 that year. One of the Chicago (Midway) flights stopped at Peoria in each direction until the end of October. Galesburg's Chicago flights switched to O'Hare in 1961 or 1962.

    Ozark replaced DC-3 service with Martin 404s between July 15 and September 1, 1965 and converted to FH-227s there by August 1, 1967.

    It seems that Britt Airways replaced Ozark Air Lines at Galesburg on September 1, 1976. I remember seeing Britt props (Beech C-99s and Fairchild Metros) there during Stearman Fly-Ins in the early 1980s. The commuter carrier dropped Galesburg around January 22, 1989 and was replaced by American Eagle Shorts 360s.

    American Eagle dropped GBG-ORD flights May 10, 1990 due to lack of business (average three passengers per flight) and the end of Essential Air Service subsidies.

    DirectAir began flying 13-seat Beech 1300s on 17 weekly roundtrips between Galesburg and Chicago-Midway on November 1, 1991. Presumably, the carrier offered interline service with Midway Airlines but then that carrier ceased operations just 12 days later. A subsidy was available to the airline for two years, however, and service continued through the end of November 1993, by which time Direct Air had become "Midway Connection."

    Great Lakes Aviation began offering Galesburg two weekday nonstop roundtrips (and one each on weekends) to Chicago-O'Hare on April 2, 1995 using 19-seat Beech 1900s. Service lasted until January 7, 1997.

    Galesburg Municipal Airport has lacked scheduled airline service since that time.

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownAugust 22, 2018 at 9:31 AM

    Thanks Dave. There is a tower on the field, but its definitely been abandoned for some time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David P. JordanAugust 23, 2018 at 8:19 AM

      I remembered a small tower on the east side when I was there in the early 1980s, but can't recall if it was in use. I know that a 1993 collision between two small planes at intersecting runways brought attention to the lack of a tower.

      Delete

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