PEORIA — Gen. Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport on Wednesday reported a 2 percent increase in 2017 over 2016 in overall passenger traffic, the third busiest year ever at the airport.
The airport had 635,003 passengers, up from 623,134 in 2016, according to a news release. The airport also reported a 26 percent increase in total freight operations.
“We didn’t expect to break a record, but we had a very good year,” Gene Olson, the airport's director, said in the release. “We’re pleased and also very grateful for all of the support from central Illinois.”
Olson said the airport had five record-setting months in 2017, including March, its busiest month ever, but fell short of the 2015 record of 641,671 passengers. In 2014, the airport had 639,320 passengers, making it the second-best year.
“We started out strong and finished up strong,” Olson said about 2017. “It was just the middle of the year that wasn’t so great.”
As for the announcement last January that Caterpillar Inc. was moving its headquarters to the Chicago area, “ I’m sure it had some kind of impact,” Olson said. “But I don’t think it was a major factor.”
UPS accounted for the 26 percent increase in freight, Olson said.
“That was a nice healthy increase,” he said. “When FedEx went away, we lost about 40 percent of our (freight) market.”
FedEx announced in 2014 that it was moving its central Illinois hub from Peoria to Bloomington's Central Illinois Regional Airport
“We’re very pleased that UPS has stayed committed to the airport and is doing well here,” Olson said.
Wednesday’s news release noted that since November 2016, the airport has added two new nonstop destinations — Charlotte, N.C., and Destin, Fla., — as well as larger jets with first class service to Dallas/Fort Worth.
“The industry trend is for airports our size to be shrinking, in large part due to a nationwide pilot shortage. We’re bucking that trend thanks to our airlines’ continued investment in our region as well as our strong community support,” Olson said.
“We’re one of only two downstate airports served by four airlines with daily nonstop flights to four of the five most connected airports in the U.S.,” said Olson. “For a community our size, the access we have to the world is tremendous and precious. As important as that is to our local economy, we cannot take it for granted.”
Olson said the airport needs to keep spreading the word that it is a valuable and convenient resource for travelers in the area.
“Future success is in getting people to use their local airport rather than going to Chicago,” he said.
Brad Erickson can be reached at 686-3059 and berickson@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Bradrickson.