Peoria Station

Morning airline operations at Peoria Int'l Airport on May 25, 2026 Evening airline operations at Peoria Int'l Airport on May 25, 2026 It is time for my annual update on local airline service.  As usual, I use the month of July for my annaul analysis. Barring last minute changes, the schedules and route map below are accurate. So let us delve into the present situation.  ALLEGIANT AIR Like last year, schedules for July 2026 show most flights operated with Airbus A320 equipment. They do not discern between 177-seat A320s or brand-new 186-seat A320SEOs. Smaller A319s, configured for 156 seats, are used on Las Vegas and Orlando-Sanford routes. Brand new Boeing 737 Max 8-200 aircraft began appearing on St. Petersburg/Clearwater nonstops as early as February 2025 and are also used on some of the Orlando-Sanford nonstops. These new Boeing planes are equipped with 190 seats.  Compared to July 2025, the airline is offering four fewer weekly departures. The most significant change ...

The year 2002 marked PIA's return to the top as Central Illinois' busiest passenger air facility. As soon as 2003 dawned, however, threats of service cuts increased as the airline industry reeled from a shaky economy, financial losses, terror threats and new regulations. The year offered a lot of drama, so I'll analyze each carrier's service and end with a bright spot which continues to the present day. AMERICAN CONNECTION (Trans States Airlines) Having been relegated to secondary status (i. e., not part of the American Eagle network), former TW Express carrier Trans States Airlines was limited to providing "American Connection" feeder service to American Airlines' St. Louis hub.  American Airlines' rationale for acquiring TWA was in part to gain a reliever hub to Chicago-O'Hare, which had a cap placed on flights during the tumultuous summer of 2000. American's idea may have worked if not for 9-11 and the subsequent air travel slumps. Cutbacks ...

It is time for my annual update on local airline service.  A summer month is best for this update. I used July for 2023's update, and I have every reason to do so again this year. Barring last minute changes, the schedules and route map below are accurate. So let us delve into the present situation.  ALLEGIANT AIR Like last year, schedules for July 2024 show most flights operated with Airbus A320 equipment. They do not discern between 177-seat A320s or brand-new 186-seat A320SEOs. Smaller A319s, configured for 156 seats, are now only used on Las Vegas flights. Subsititutions happen and due to complexity with Allegiant Air schedules, the equipment shown below may be at times oversimplified.  Seasonal nonstops to Destin/Fort Walton Beach and year-round nonstops to Phoenix-Mesa have gained one weekly roundtrip each as compared to last year. So there are now 25 weekly departures this month versus 23 in July 2023.  Deliveries of 50 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft was to start in ...

I intended to do this on a Saturday earlier this month, but I either got to bed too late Friday or the forecast called for morning rain. I got to bed too late Friday, but did this anyway...   Since our local "newspaper of record" doesn't cover local commercial aviation anymore, someone needs to do so. (Apologies for my camera's motor noises...I'm looking for a replacement soon.) United Parcel Service has been having a Boeing 767-300 freighter stop at Peoria early Saturday morning enroute from Louisville to Rockford. It is likely they only stop here to drop off empty cargo containers for Caterpillar's Morton distribution center, explaining the short takeoff shown in the video. It is good to see a "widebody" like a 767 used here on a regular basis. UPS uses another "widebody"-type (an Airbus A-300) on on its weeknight and pre-dawn flights, but those are hard to catch in daylight unless in mid- to late-June or the planes are late. Occasionally...

It is time for my annual update on local airline service.  A summer month is best for this update. I used July in last year's update, and I have every reason to do so this year. Barring last minute changes, the schedules and route map below are accurate. So let's delve into the present situation.  ALLEGIANT AIR Like last year, schedules for July 2023 show most flights operated with Airbus A320 equipment. They do not discern between 177-seat A320s or brand-new 186-seat A320SEOs. Smaller A319s, configured for 156 seats, are used on Denver, Las Vegas and Nashville routes. Subsititutions do happen and due to complexity with Allegiant Air schedules, the equipment shown may be oversimplified in a few places.  FUTURE - Fuel shock following sanctions against Russia for its February 24, 2022 invasion of Ukraine quickly caused a steep increase in aviation fuel prices just as the last states were ending COVID restrictions. I predicted last summer that this fuel shock, reminiscent of...

Peoria International Airport passenger traffic continued a nice recovery in 2022.  The Metropolitan Airport Authority of Peoria released its statistics close to the usual time this year, so we learn that in 2022 the local airfield handled 573,911 passengers. That number is well short of 2019's record 689,416 but far better than the 326,861 handled in 2020 and 480,006 in 2021. Now that almost all COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted, rising traffic should continue in 2023 if fuel price shock doesn't crash demand like it threatened to do for much of last year.  But the airline industry continues to suffer from pilot shortages, a trend that has been especially hard on small communities like Peoria. Last year's passenger numbers reflect a vibrant leisure travel market thanks to Allegiant Air.  Besides the pilot shortage, retirement of the older 50-seat regional jets and avoidance of unnecessary  business travel will continue to limit offerings by American Eagle and Un...

Saturday, July 9, 2022, I caught the arriving UPS 767-300 freighter as well as Allegiant Air, Amerrican Eagle and United Express passenger flights at Gen. Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport.  I got mostly arrivals, as that day's departures on Runway 4 were difficult to capture (I missed getting all three Allegiant Air departures while I was in the area). I even got skunked with the UPS departure on Runway 31!  I also missed Saturday's American Eagle arrival from Dallas/Ft. Worth, called it quits and went back Sunday for it. The DFW arrival was late, so I got the Charlotte arrival first. - David P. Jordan

It is time for my annual update on local airline service.  A summer month is best for this update. I used July in last year's update, and I have every reason to do so this year. Barring last minute changes, the schedules and route map below are accurate. So let's delve into the present situation.  ALLEGIANT AIR Fort Lauderdale service resumed on December 15, 2021, giving PIA ten nonstop destinations on a single carrier. This new destination requires an update to last year's route history. Notably, Allegiant Air is operating all "normal" routes it ever started since it began flying here in 2004.  Las Vegas, NV - March 3, 2004 St. Petersburg/Clearwater, FL - December 13, 2006 Phoenix-Mesa, AZ - October 27, 2007 Punta Gorda/Ft. Myers, FL - June 28, 2012 Orlando (Sanford), FL - November 14, 2014 (See Note 1) Destin/Ft. Walton Beach, FL - May 24, 2017 Nashville, TN - June 4, 2020 Sarasota/Bradenton, FL - May 27, 2021 Denver, CO - May 28, 2021 Fort Lauderdale - December...

Peoria International Airport handled nearly a half million passengers in 2021! According to a post made to the airport's website February 14 , the local facility handled 480,006 passengers last year. That's an improvement over 2020's depressed 326,861 but still far below 2019's record 689,416. It is unclear if PIA will ever reach this volume again as recent "pandemic" restrictions may have permanently reduced business travel in favor of videoconferencing. Experts are often wrong, but recovery will take years if at all.  I should also note that air cargo volume increased from 17 million pounds in 2020 to 20 million pounds in 2021. Almost all of this traffic was handled by United Parcel Service flights operating most nights between Rockford, Peoria and Louisville.  - David P. Jordan

Although events of 2020 were sad (and arguably unnecessary), I decided to do my annual analysis of airline service at the Peoria International Airport.  Normally, I pick June or July for this annual post. With the year nearly concluded, I decided that the week of December 13-19 was best for this analysis. There were even a few surprises, mostly related to the expected surge in holiday traffic. Changes by each carrier serving Peoria in 2020 are detailed below.   ALLEGIANT AIR In mid-January, this Las Vegas-based carrier announced seasonal, twice-weekly nonstops to Nashville, Tennessee would start June 4. Given subsequent events, it is surprising Allegiant Air went ahead and started the new route!  Load factors must have been more than satisfactory. Service was slated to end in November, but it apparently got extended into December.  Recently, the season was extended yet again from December 19 through January 2. I couldn't find schedules for December 19, so I'm un...

Peoria International Airport posted its third-best passenger tally in 2017.  The Peoria Journal Star reported Wednesday night that traffic was up two percent in 2017 with 635,003 passengers. I was close with my prediction last month . If the two percent increase holds through December, traffic will total about 636,000 this year, the third-best in PIA history.  Factors for the slight increase include new service to American Airlines' Charlotte (NC) hub (begun in Nov. 3, 2016), Allegiant Air's twice-weekly, seasonal (May to September) nonstops to Destin/Ft. Walton Beach (FL) and larger jets to American Airlines' Dallas/Ft. Worth (TX) hub (begun in February 2017).  PIA first broke the 600,000-passenger mark in 2014 with 639,320 passengers. The year 2015 gave it an all time record of 641,671 passengers. Traffic dipped in 2016 with a still respectable 623,134.  With an improving economy and rising sales for Caterpillar promising increased business...

United Parcel Service (UPS) established an air cargo hub at Rockford in 1994. I always wondered if Peoria was a contender for this operation.  By the mid-1980s, rapid growth in air cargo volume at then-Greater Peoria Airport spurred dreams of being an air cargo hub. A new master plan drawn up in 1987 called for development of a large air cargo complex in the airport's southeast quadrant.  PIA's dream was a good one, but it never came close to happening. A bid for designation at the United States Postal Service hub failed in 1989 and 1991 and a failed effort to lure DHL in 1996-1998 prompted the State of Illinois to pass supporting legislation.  In between Peoria's USPS and DHL efforts, UPS developed a hub at then-Greater Rockford Airport. It began in 1993 as a temporary Christmas rush hub to support a large volume of seasonal shipments by Land's End, a clothing, luggage and home furnishing retailer based in Dodgeville, Wisconsin (west of Madison). ...

Peoria Int'l Airport will likely post its third-highest annual passenger tally in 2017.  Last month, it broke the November record (52,769 last year) with 55,146 passengers. Passenger traffic for this year exceeds last by two percent, according to this press release .  The all time record came in 2015 when 641,477 passengers went through PIA's gates. Traffic dipped to 623,134 passengers in 2016. The second-highest annual tally was 639,320 in 2014. If the two percent increase holds through December, traffic will total about 636,000 this year, the third-best in PIA history.  The airport press release also notes a 27 percent increase in air freight volume, which is encouraging given the loss of FedEx flights in early 2015. The increase is likely due to rising Caterpillar parts shipments on United Parcel Service.  - David P. Jordan