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 will probably be working on the next "PIA - A History" post in November. It will cover 1999. - David P. Jordan

Peoria Int'l Airport is on course for a 2019 passenger record. That is because it continued to post record volume through the summer. According to this , 65,919 passengers were handled in June, the largest ever tally for that month. PIA then broke its July record with 68,447. In also broke its August record when it handled 56,639 passengers. Rising passenger volume - 3.25 percent higher the the first eight months of 2019 v. 2018 - suggests 2019 will be another record year. In 2018, PIA handled 672,594 passengers. If that percentage holds, the final tally will be around 694,000.  - David P. Jordan

Image consciousness dominated PIA in the 1990s, but airport officials seemed powerless to reverse declining service offerings. In 1997, however, a shift in fortune was spurred not by PIA but by a competitor 50 miles away. THE RISE OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS REGIONAL AIRPORT Starting in 1945, the Greater Peoria [Regional] Airport had dominated the Central Illinois region in passenger volume for five decades. No other facility came close. But by the late-1990s, it was clear PIA's reign was threatened by Bloomington-Normal Airport (BMI). Renamed Central Illinois Regional Airport in 1996, BMI quickly lived up to its name. Officials revealed in late-summer that they were pursuing a recent upstart named AirTran Airways, which would offer daily nonstop jet service to Orlando, Florida. Bloomington's Pantagraph also stated that CIRA was competing with PIA for this service. AirTran chose CIRA despite the airfield's limitations. First, Runway 02-20, opened a few months prior, was to...

Peoria Int'l Airport was visited by not one but two big jets Tuesday, August 27. A Boeing 747-400 stopped here in early evening for what appears to have been a military charter. The plane, operating as Atlas Air Flight# 8083 on a Houston (Bush Intercont'l)-Peoria-Anchorage-Fukuoka, Japan itinerary, arrived at 8:14pm and departed at 11:42pm. The big plane was parked at the Ronald W. Burling Cargo Terminal ramp between flights. Also visiting Tuesday was a United States Air Force KC-10 Extender, a military tanker based on the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 tri-jet. Unfortunately, I could only capture these planes at night, but at least managed to record the historic events. - David P. Jordan

This one is pure speculation... ...but there is reason to believe it will happen.  Allegiant Air added Sarasota/Bradenton, Florida to its map in April 2018. The city's international airport serves a metropolitan area of over 700,000 but also generates a huge number of tourists. This year, the airline has added fifteen points from its newest southwest Florida "Focus City."  In April, seven new routes - to Cleveland, Columbus (OH), Grand Rapids, Harrisburg, Nashville, Richmond and Syracuse - were started from the southwest Florida community. This week, the airline announced eight more to be added in November 2019. Destinations will be Des Moines, Flint, Fort Wayne, Knoxville, Louisville, Rockford, Illinois; St. Louis (Mid-America) and South Bend. Note small cities like Fort Wayne and South Bend, Indiana and Rockford, Illinois are among points to be served later this year. Thus, twice-weekly nonstops are not out of the realm of possibility for Peoria. ...

The Keokuk Junction Railway's F-unit fleet is going into storage this week.  New owner Brookhaven Rail Partners acquired legal control of Pioneer Railcorp a few days ago and is already making changes to one shortline's motive power fleet. Reportedly, the KJRY will run a transfer with PREX 1750 & 1761 (and probably a GP20) from Mapleton to East Peoria and return Monday, and west to LaHarpe on Tuesday. PREX 1752 is already at LaHarpe. The latter will be the final run for these units in freight service. (credit to Steve Smedley) The above video captured an eastbound KJRY transfer on Saturday, February 9, 2019.  - David P. Jordan

It is that time of year again! Although changes may be few overall, I like to post an annual review of air service happenings at the Gen. Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport. Let's start with a run down by air carrier. (Above video shot July 13, 2019.) ALLEGIANT AIR Allegiant Air offers nonstops to six destinations from Peoria - Destin/Ft. Walton Beach, Las Vegas, Orlando-Sanford, Phoenix-Mesa, Punta Gorda/Ft. Myers and St. Petersburg/Clearwater. Destin/Ft. Walton Beach service is seasonal, ending after September 3. The Las Vegas-based carrier is offering 18 weekly departures in July 2019. See below for details. Monday - Las Vegas, Punta Gorda/Ft. Myers Tuesday -  Phoenix-Mesa, St. Petersburg/Clearwater Wednesday -  Destin/Ft. Walton Beach, Las Vegas, Orlando-Sanford, Punta Gorda/Ft. Myers Thursday -  Phoenix-Mesa, St. Petersburg/Clearwater Friday -  Las Vegas, Punta Gorda/Ft. Myers Saturday -  Destin/Ft. Walton Beach, Orlando-Sanfo...