CIRA's 2024 Passenger Stats (UPDATED)

I found 2024 passenger stats for Bloomington-Normal's Central Illinois Regional Airport!

Radio station WGLT 89.1 FM posted a story May 27 with lots of good detail. Last year, CIRA recorded 165,701 enplanements and 163,947 deplanements for a total of 329,648. In 2023, these figures were 167,597 and 167,291, respectively, for a total of 334,888.

So CIRA saw only a slight decline in traffic last year. One wonders, though, if continued commercial airline operations are sustainable. CIRA has never recovered after losing AirTran Airways in 2012. Southwest Airlines, which acquired AirTran, decided that CIRA did not fit into its plans. Capacity was cut and low-fare connections via an Atlanta hub ended. 

What CIRA has going for it is Delta Connection nonstops to Atlanta, two roundtrips daily, on 76-seat CRJ900 equipment operated by SkyWest Airlines. This service draws travelers from through the Central Illinois region, including Peoria. Outside of Chicago, only Moline/Quad Cities can boast of this service. Peoria had it in 2001-2009 and 2012-2020, and has sought to have it restored. But that seems unlikely, as it would duplicate existing CIRA service. 

CIRA's other scheduled airline service is offered by Allegiant Air and American Eagle. The former provides Orlando-Sanford nonstops on Sundays and Thursdays, and St. Petersburg/Clearwater nonstops on Mondays and Fridays. Destin/Ft. Walton Beach flights are seasonal, usually twice-weekly, and are currently suspended. American Eagle provides two daily roundtrips to Chicago-O'Hare on 65-seat Embraer 170 equipment and two daily roundtrips to Dallas/Ft. Worth on 76-seat Embraer 175 equipment operated, both routes operated by Envoy Airlines. 

Daily commercial airline service amounts to just six or seven departures. Champaign-Urbana, Decatur and Springfield have even less service. 

So what can CIRA do? Frontier Airlines did not resume summer seasonal tri-weekly Denver nonstops this year. That decision seems to have been made a year ago, but United Express' new daily nonstop service out of Peoria would likely have hurt its chances anyway. 

Declining business travel is mostly offset by rising leisure travel. Allegiant Air links CIRA with two Florida points, but with a much larger schedule at nearby Peoria, I don't see much hope for expansion. Breeze Airways picked Springfield as its first Illinois station, beginning nonstops to Orlando and Tampa in early December 2023. Tampa flights were suspended in August 2024, however, and have not resumed. Champaign-Urbana is actively pursuing an Ultra Low Cost Carrier (ULCC) for nonstops leisure destinations, likely Florida (Breeze to Orlando seems most likely, if at all). CIRA won't grow much if it has to compete with expanded ULCC service at nearby communities for leisure travelers. 

In the not too-distant future, Rivian Automotive's plans for an assembly plant near Social Circle, Georgia, 45 miles east of Atlanta, could increase business travel and prompt Delta Connection to add a third daily roundtrip. Renewed emphasis on Chicago-O'Hare by both American Airlines and United Airlines could result in a third daily roundtrip by the former. That would at least increase daily departures to eight or nine. 

- David P. Jordan