Peoria Station

Allegiant Air resumed Peoria-Destin/Ft. Walton Beach nonstops today.  The service operated for several months last year on a seasonal basis beginning May 24. Present service is offered Wednesdays and Saturdays. The last flights operate August 29.  - David P. Jordan

Allegiant Air is set to resume its Destin/Ft. Walton nonstops out of Peoria on May 16, 2018. Service started May 24 this year but was suspended for the off season in early September. Flights will be operating Wednesdays and Saturdays with Airbus A320 equipment. On the former, they will arrive here at 7:17pm and depart at 8:02pm. The on the latter, arrival is at 2:04pm and depature is at 2:49pm. - David P. Jordan

Last month proved Peoria International Airport's biggest October ever regarding passengers.  According to this press release .  The General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport (PIA) saw a record October with 56,290 passengers, surpassing that month's previous record of 54,580 passengers in October 2014. Director of Airports, Gene Olson, noted that PIA saw record figures the first three months of this year, but traffic softened in April and September. The latter was probably due to seasonal suspensions of Allegiant Air nonstops to both Orlando-Sanford and Destin/Fort Walton Beach. The former resumed November 15 and the latter is expected to return next spring.  That the airport posted an October record without these services suggests strength to other markets or that passengers found alternatives to these Florida points. Fare competition between American (Charlotte) and Delta (Atlanta) probably is a factor here.  Olson believes that ...

The Peoria Journal Star posted online a story yesterday touting rising passenger traffic. Unlike most business news, this was prompted by something other than a press release. PASSENGER TRAFFIC DOWN SLIGHTLY THROUGH JULY Unfortunately, the article fails to provide passenger data for recent months. The airport touted record traffic for each of the first three months this year, but not since. I suspected business declined in April, and I was correct, at least according to figures from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics . BTS data excludes charter passengers and the newest figures are three months old for proprietary reasons, but we can use it determine trends. Using BTS figures, I came up with the following for the first seven months of 2017. *January - 47,536 *February - 46,148 *March - 59,836 April - 48,291 May - 51,166 June 57,815 July 55,622 Total - 366,414 So how does this compare to the first seven months of 2016? January - 43,387 Februar...

Allegiant Air's nonstops to both Destin/Ft. Walton Beach and Orlando-Sanford are on hiatus, according to the Peoria Journal Star . The last "turnaround" to Destin/Ft. Walton Beach operated Saturday, September 2 while the last to Orlando-Sanford operated August 12. According to the linked article, service to the former will resume in the spring. The latter will resume November 15. Makes you wonder if not for Hurricane Irma's affect on our service (Allegiant Air suspended its Punta Gorda flight Friday), our local newspaper would have bothered to report the hiatus on Destin/Ft. Walton and Orlando-Sanford flights. - David P. Jordan