Peoria Station

An article appearing in Wednesday's Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel online  includes an ominous possibility, not for now, but possibly the near future.  First some background. Komatsu acquired Joy Global on April 5, 2017. Renamed Komatsu Mining Systems, its West Milwaukee, Wisconsin plant manufactures mining shovels and various components (including gears). At the time, demand for mining equipment had been depressed for several years, and many workers were on layoff. Recently, Komatsu announced that it would move work to West Milwaukee from China.  Now comes the announcement that Komatsu is developing a new manufacturing plant in the Milwaukee Harbor area, immediate west of Jones Island. After clearing and environmental cleanup, the site will be ready for development sometime in 2019. The new site, which is expected to replace some or all of existing West Milwaukee plant operations, will significantly improve outbound logistics. At present, large components mov...

Believe me, the events of 1986 will leave your head spinning! Signs of an air service boom came early in the year. The Peoria Journal Star reported January 7 on Republic Airlines' interest in serving Peoria, as well as plans by an unnamed carrier to offer jet service to Chicago. More on those later. By 1986, the American economy was booming.  From November 1985 to July 1986, the oil price per barrel dropped from $30 to $12. Thus, airlines also benefitted from reduced expenses. A simultaneous surge in capacity brought lower fares. Peoria shared in this prosperity. Better yet, locally-based Caterpillar returned to profitability and sales were growing again. Here's a run-down of happenings by airline for the year. AIR WISCONSIN Beginning March 2, four roundtrips were operated on weekdays (fewer on weekends) between Peoria and Chicago-O'Hare. In mid-year, all four operated to and from Springfield, giving the carrier eight weekday departures out of Peoria.  When ...

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. I'm working on the "PIA - A History: Events of 1986" post. Expect it in the near future.  - David P. Jordan

Peoria is losing service to one of the nation's top hubs.  Effective Tuesday, November 27, Delta Connection is dropping two weekday roundtrips between Peoria Int'l Airport and Delta Air Lines' hub at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. The cut comes at the same time the same airline is dropping its roundtrip between Bloomington-Normal and Minneapolis/St. Paul. Retirement of 50-seat regional jets and a pilot shortage brought on by federal requirements for increased flying hours are likely factors. Schedules show that in November, 76-seat CRJ900s will be used on some Peoria-Atlanta flights, so the loss of seats appears minimal at this time. The end of Detroit service reduces Delta's local presence to three Atlanta nonstops and one to Minneapolis/St. Paul.  Peoria has a history of Detroit service which dates to 1976. On December 15 that year, Ozark Air Lines began twice-daily nonstop jet service. Service was reduced to a single, daily-except-Saturday service befor...

The year 1985 offered a sample of what was to come in the last half of the 1980s - mergers and code-sharing.  AIR WISCONSIN ARRIVES PIA In late-January 1985, Mississippi Valley Airlines agreed to a takeover bid by Appleton, Wisconsin-based Air Wisconsin. The latter absorbed MVA on June 1 that year, and continued using MVA's F-27/Shorts 360 fleet at PIA. I can't recall seeing a Shorts 360 painted in Air Wisconsin's green, orange and white colors, so they probably remained in MVA's blue, yellow and white until finally withdrawn from here by Spring 1986.  On July 20, 1985 Air Wisconsin began sharing United Air Lines' two-letter designator code (UA) on its Chicago-O'Hare flights, thus beginning the two carriers' close relationship which would last for many years. Two of Air Wisconsin's five PIA-ORD roundtrips were cut October 27 due to an aircraft shortage. Ironically, exactly a month earlier one of the airline's executives visited the city t...