Peoria Station

  It is time for my annual update on local airline service.  Normally, a summer month, usually July, is best for this update. I nearly skipped this annual exercise for 2020 due to unfortunate events, but after some clearer thinking, I chose one week in December for analysis. So in a bid to return to normalcy for 2021, I again chose July for the update. Save for the loss of Delta Connection service a year ago, July 2021 is the closest to normal as possible. Lets first look at changes by carrier -  ALLEGIANT AIR Peoria's Low Cost Carrier keeps expanding service options. Last year, it went ahead with Nashville nonstops, despite all of the "pandemic" panic and lockdowns. In 2021, it added (or will add) no fewer than three more nonstop destinations - Sarasota/Bradenton, Denver and Rapid City. As a result PIA will briefly offer ten nonstop destinations on Allegiant Air.  I think it is appropriate to review the carrier's history with Peoria. First, here are inaugural d...

I will soon be able to create more blog posts. Expect in the next few days the annual update on Peoria Int'l Airport air service.  Meanwhile, you can ask questions here. If I don't have an answer, I'll find one.  - David P. Jordan

Frontier Airlines will offer Las Vegas nonstops from Bloomington-Normal's Central Illinois Regional Airport (CIRA) Starting August 12. Service will be offered on Thursdays and Sundays using 168-seat Airbus A-320 aircraft. Presently, Frontier offers Denver and Orlando nonstops thrice-weekly on a seasonal basis. Service to Las Vegas will be seasonal as well. Frontier's new flights are not the first time CIRA offered Las Vegas nonstops. AirTran Airways offered quad-weekly service from August 15, 2007 through April 8, 2008 on 137-seat Boeing 737-700s. Service was suspended until August that year due to rising fuel prices, but in fact never returned. It should also be noted that CIRA handled 183,190 passengers in 2020. This figure was down 56.5 percent from 2019 volume.  - David P. Jordan

  On Amtrak's 50th birthday, May 1, 2021, late-running No. 6 (eastbound California Zephyr) and No. 4 (eastbound Southwest Chief) and somewhat late No. 5 (westbound California Zephyr) are shown at or near Galesburg, Illinois. No. 6 literally smokes out of Galesburg as raw, unburned diesel fuel spews from the exhaust stacks of its lead P42! - David P. Jordan

The coronavirus scare has caused predictable congestion at Chicago-O'Hare International Airport. This article  explains the issues, and how nearby Rockford is benefitting.  Limited capacity in commercial airliners has shifted more business to dedicated air cargo firms. This has taxed capacity at O'Hare's outdated freight facilities. Congestion on the ground is expensive in terms of fuel, and delays for customers intolerable. That is why two freight forwarders -  D. B. Schenker and Senator International - have relocated some air cargo flights to Chicago-Rockford International Airport.  I've always wondered why Peoria was never able to attract international air cargo service. Caterpillar is a big user of air freight for emergency parts shipments out of its Morton, Illinois facility with shipments bound for distribution centers in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Japan, etc. There are other local firms that use international air cargo for time-sensitive shipments....

This afternoon, I was close to Peoria International Airport, so I decided to check the arrival lineup.  Turns out, Mesa Airlines dba American Eagle Flt# 5972, oprerated by a 76-seat Canadair CRJ900 twinjet, was enroute from Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas. I turned on my scanner to check airport information, quickly learning that only Runway 22 was being used for arrivals and departures on this warm Easter Sunday. That made the decision to wait for Mesa 5972 a lot easier. It arrived Peoria Int'l Airport at 1517 hours Sunday, April 4, 2021. I hope to resume planespotting this year. A trip to Chicago-O'Hare is in order.  - David P. Jordan

  I again caught a Canadian National Railway switching Amerhart and Hanna Steel. Thursday, March 25, 2021, I happened to hear radio chatter between the crew of Canadian National Railway's southbound local, L557, and the dispatcher. I only caught part of the conversation but knew the dispatcher had given L557's crew a track warrant to run from IC Junction at Pekin to Mount Pulaski. That meant the train was close to Pekin. I was just across the river. So it was prudent to investigate.  I saw five steel coil loads and three lumber loads left at the siding just north of Derby Street. The northbound local, L556, usually leaves these cars for the next day's L557. But where was L557? Moments later, I found a Tazewell & Peoria Railroad (TZPR) crew assembling a train for East Peoria. Their dispatcher (based at St. Albans, Vermont) gave them permission to run past IC Junction to East Peoria. So either the CN local had just cleared IC Junction or had yet to leave East Peoria. Turn...