PIA – A History: 1950 To 1956
(Originally posted July 7, 2016) The newly-renamed Greater Peoria Airport handled 22,903 passengers in 1950. Traffic grew rapidly through 1955 when the facility served 68,058 passengers. Below is a summary of air service changes from the last post, PIA – A History: Airline Service in 1950 , to March 1956. AMERICAN AIRLINES Although the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) recommended suspension of its PIA service and replacement by Ozark, American Airlines fought to retain its route authority. In the end, Ozark was allowed Chicago rights, and AA retained its existing services. BYERLY AIRLINES On April 21, 1953 Byerly Aviation began a Peoria-Chicago (Midway) air taxi service using a Beech Bonanza. An evening flight was added on December 1 that year. In September 1954, service was extended to Jacksonville, Illinois. Ozark Air Lines’ Peoria-Chicago (Midway) flights, which began October 19, 1954, proved devastating to Byerly’s own service. I’ve not found an end date for the f...