By Greg Halbleib
BLOOMINGTON – The passenger count at Central Illinois Regional Airport increased slightly from 2015 to 2016, which Airport Director Carl Olson says reverses a trend.
More than 381,000 passengers flew in and out of CIRA in 2016, just under 2,000 or about a half-percent more than in 2015.
“The fact that it came after a few years of negative numbers, we see this as sort of a new foundation to build upon,” Olson said. “We’ve got some new service introductions with some equipment upgrades that will help us build even stronger going into 2017. We’d like to keep that momentum going.”
Olson says he’s always talking to airlines about using CIRA, but his first task is taking care of the airlines already here.
“In this environment, if you lose a market or if you lose a service, you typically don’t get it back very quickly, so retention is first and foremost. We want to protect the core,” Olson said. “But also working with our incumbent airlines, we’ve got equipment upgrades for Atlanta, equipment upgrades for Dallas, we’re in conversations about maybe adding not only frequencies but adding some new markets.”
Olson says CIRA has amenities not common for cities this size, including the high quality of runways and precision instrument capabilities.
Olson revealed the numbers to those attending this morning’s monthly breakfast of the McLean County Chamber of Commerce.
Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected].
