Peoria Station

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 am still working on the next "PIA - A History" post. It will cover both 1993 and 1994. - David P. Jordan

Peoria Int'l Airport had its best February ever! Last month, 49,094 passengers passed through the terminal building. The previous February record was 47,385 passengers in 2017.  The airport has also notified travelers that the parking lot is full, and that passengers who leave their cars there are being directed to the overflow lot. Parking spaces now total 3,300 and will probably have to be increased if traffic continues to grow. The trend so far this year is encouraging, so hopefully PIA will break another record in 2019.  Both the airport website and Peoria's newspaper of record are reporting this story.  - David P. Jordan 

Historical accounts tend to diminish in detail as they approach the present. I won't allow that for this series. Peoria's commercial aviation history is filled with interesting changes from beginning to end. I will cover all that I am aware.  I won't be able to rely as much on newspaper accounts, however. I've been using online resources since July 15, 1991 but this is a time-consuming process. Newspaper clippings, which I've saved over the years, will come in handy when I don't feel like searching for specific events.  The next post in this series will depart from the single year theme, and will likely cover both 1993 and 1994. - David P. Jordan

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 another "PIA - A History" post. This one will likely cover two years, 1993-1994. Expect it in the near future.  - David P. Jordan

This past year was a good one for Bloomington-Normal's Central Illinois Regional Airport. Passenger traffic in 2018 rose 9.1 percent, according to the airport statistics section on the airport's website . Total enplanements were 183,575 and deplanements were 180,907 for a total of 364,482. Compare that to the 333,932 passengers that it handled in 2017. Last year's numbers pale in comparison to this facility's all-time record of 579,265 in 2011, but any increase is a good sign.  Airport officials credit strong loads on all carriers, particularly Allegiant Air and on its newest carrier, Frontier Airlines. The latter began tri-weekly Denver nonstops began September 24 and tri-weekly Orlando nonstops began October 2. Passenger growth came despite Frontier's seasonal suspension of its Denver flights after November 17 (service resumes April 30) and the loss of Delta Connection nonstops to Minneapolis/St. Paul from November 26. CIRA offers service on four ca...

In many ways, the year 1992 seemed like a good one for the Greater Peoria Regional Airport, but dark clouds lingered. Frustration returned in subsequent years. It began with uncertainties. The national recession had ended in March 1991, but unemployment in the United States would not peak until June 1992*. The United Auto Workers Local 974 struck Caterpillar's Illinois plants in November 1991 after contract talks failed. Management and salaried workers continued some production until the strike ended in April 1992. Local unemployment then declined as both Caterpillar and suppliers began returning operations to pre-strike levels. As the economy improved, so did prospects for machinery sales. No doubt business travel began returning to pre-recession levels as well. Progress proved slow, however. * Local unemployment rose to 9.5% in June 1992 on a surge in job-seekers.  THE GREAT AIR FARE WAR OF 1992 Recession and oil shock following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait brought the a...

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 1992" post. Expect it in the near future.  - David P. Jordan