Peoria Station

Peoria Int'l Airport has been awarded $500,000 for assistance in regaining a link to a western connecting hub. The grant, announced Friday, is part of the Small Community Air Service Development program (SCASD). Funds are used to offset financial losses by the airline providing service. In many instances, funds aren't needed. The Airport Authority prefers Denver, Houston, Phoenix or Salt Lake City. Denver and Houston are hubs for United Airlines, Phoenix is a hub for American Airlines and Salt Lake City is a hub for Delta Airlines.  It is difficult to imagine that American Airlines would offer Peoria-Phoenix nonstops when passengers can make good connections through Dallas/Ft. Worth. Houston was already tried and didn't work out due to load factors. I don't see Delta Airlines being interested in Peoria-Salt Lake City nonstops.  Both American Airlines and United Airlines provided letters of support. So if Houston, Phoenix and Salt Lake City are out, then Denver is likel...

Happenings were frequent in 1987, so I'm sticking with analysis-by-year for now. Those late-1986 mergers brought less competition and higher fares into 1987. As a consequence, scheduled flights and passenger traffic decreased. These were good times, however. Let's begin with a rundown of happenings by airline. AMERICAN EAGLE (Simmons Airlines) When 1987 began, this carrier offered six weekday roundtrips between Peoria and Chicago-O'Hare (ORD) and four Peoria-Springfield (SPI) tag-ons. The latter gained a fifth roundtrip on February 2. On March 1, American Eagle eliminated an O'Hare roundtrip, and reduced Springfield tag-ons to four until April 5. Scheduling five ORD-PIA-SPI roundtrips continued to be the norm through November. Until October 1, American Eagle operated a 46-seat ATR-42 on a mid-afternoon turnaround from Chicago-O'Hare. Then on November 1, it resumed use of the French-built turboprop on late-morning turnaround from Chicago-O'Hare. All other...

Believe me, the events of 1986 will leave your head spinning! Signs of an air service boom came early in the year. The Peoria Journal Star reported January 7 on Republic Airlines' interest in serving Peoria, as well as plans by an unnamed carrier to offer jet service to Chicago. More on those later. By 1986, the American economy was booming.  From November 1985 to July 1986, the oil price per barrel dropped from $30 to $12. Thus, airlines also benefitted from reduced expenses. A simultaneous surge in capacity brought lower fares. Peoria shared in this prosperity. Better yet, locally-based Caterpillar returned to profitability and sales were growing again. Here's a run-down of happenings by airline for the year. AIR WISCONSIN Beginning March 2, four roundtrips were operated on weekdays (fewer on weekends) between Peoria and Chicago-O'Hare. In mid-year, all four operated to and from Springfield, giving the carrier eight weekday departures out of Peoria.  When ...

Peoria's economy remained in the dumps in 1984 as Caterpillar continued to shed employees as well as facilities. But airport passenger traffic continued to rise. An April 15 article proclaimed a nine percent increase and that fares were competitive with Chicago and St. Louis. Britt Airways' service remained largely unchanged with FH-227s operating eight roundtrips between Peoria and Chicago-O'Hare with seven nonstops to and eight nonstops from that facility. Bloomington-Normal and Springfield tag-ons gave the Terre Haute, Indiana-based airline a total of eleven weekday departures. A January 5, 1984 newspaper ad touted connections to American Airlines' Chicago-O'Hare hub. Mississippi Valley Airlines provided five weekday flights to O'Hare and six from, while Burlington (Iowa) and Springfield (IL) tag-ons provided a total of eleven weekday departures. The Moline, Illinois-based airline used a mix of Fokker F-27s, Shorts 360s and Shorts 330s. MVA newspaper ads...