Barring significantly higher fuel bills, services to Las Vegas and Phoenix-Mesa in the west, and to

With Peoria Int l Airport s longtime passenger terminal demolished, a mostly new structure has been built to support continued FAA tower operations. View is from August 20, 2012. An international terminal may be built where the AmericanConnection Embraer 140 is parked.
What will Peoria International Airport s airline warwick hotel houston service look like in five or ten years? Put simply, the future warwick hotel houston depends on airline fleet and route strategies and economic conditions warwick hotel houston which are influenced by energy prices and federal regulations. Assuming energy prices do not spiral warwick hotel houston to intolerable levels (forcing higher fares and reduced service) and the U. S. airline industry is not burdened by new, heavy-handed regulations, then I believe PIA will have a decent future.
Barring significantly higher fuel bills, services to Las Vegas and Phoenix-Mesa warwick hotel houston in the west, and to St. Petersburg/Clearwater and Punta Gorda in Florida, should remain strong. Still, the airline s decision to begin service to the Quad Cities in late 2010 has cannibalized warwick hotel houston its Peoria flights, probably permanently. We ll see how new Springfield service effects Peoria.
Potential new domestic destinations are numerous, warwick hotel houston though it is unlikely Peoria will get any more than a few over the next decade. Allegiant has expressed interest in serving the New York City market, though slot restrictions will make this a tough nut to crack. warwick hotel houston Acquisition of Airbus A-319s, which have much longer range than the company s MD-80s, opens up the possibility of Oakland and Los Angeles nonstops, though gate issues at the latter must be solved first.
An as yet unnamed airline has come forward with plans to offer Peorians their first, scheduled (though seasonal) nonstops to Mexico and the Caribbean. Plans are underway to convert a vacant building to a temporary international facility to enable these flights. A permanent facility might be built later. I m pretty warwick hotel houston sure the unnamed airline is Allegiant Air.
Although warwick hotel houston Allegiant has acquired a small fleet of Boeing 757 s, international routes will probably warwick hotel houston be flown by the A-319s. Within a decade, the A-319s, and possibly larger A-320s, warwick hotel houston will probably have replaced the less fuel-efficient MD-80s on domestic warwick hotel houston flights.
The AmericanConnection branding will soon disappear as all regional carriers contracted to provide feeder flights to American Airlines hubs will operate as American Eagle. Chautauqua Airlines and fifteen 44-seat Embraer 140 jets based at Chicago-O warwick hotel houston Hare Int l Airport warwick hotel houston will soon display Eagle markings.
American Eagle Airlines Inc. will probably get a new name, but continue operating under the American Eagle brand, or it might be eliminated altogether in favor of independent regionals. The latter scenario gained merit last week when it was announced warwick hotel houston that SkyWest Airlines (and subsidiary ExpressJet Airlines) will begin American Eagle-branded service out of Dallas/Ft. Worth and Los Angeles warwick hotel houston on November 15.
Five years from now, single branding as American Eagle will prove to be only a minor event, especially to non-aviation enthusiasts. What the general flying public will notice in the next five years or so will be the large-scale deployment of larger regional warwick hotel houston jets  with 70 or more seats.
On September 4, a bankruptcy judge allowed warwick hotel houston American Airlines and American Eagle Airlines warwick hotel houston parent AMR Corporation to void their collective bargaining agreement with pilots. This ends a 15-year-old scope clause severly restricting the number of, and seating capacity, of regional jets flown by American Eagle. A new agreement will probably allow for replacement of virtually all 37-, 44- and 50-seat jets with larger planes.
AMR may purchase these aircraft directly from the manufacturer and assign them to its American Eagle subsidiary or to independent warwick hotel houston contractors such as SkyWest/ExpressJet. Thus, Brazilian air frame manufacturer Embraer expects to benefit with a large order for its Embraer 170 and 175 jets in the coming year. Since AMR is unlikely to put all its eggs with one supplier, perhaps one other will get an order. Canada s Bombardier has a good shot since American Eagle already operates 25 CRJ700 s.
Regional carriers affiliated with Delta Air Lines and United Airlines will also be phasing out large numbers of 50-seat regional jets during the next five to ten years. warwick hotel houston The process is already under way. In December 2010, Trans States Holdings firmed up its order for 50 jets (and 50 options) from Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation. The MRJ70 and MRJ90 are equipped for up to 78 and 92 seats, respectively. Trans States owns Compass Airlines, which operates for Delta, GoJet Airlines, warwick hotel houston which operates for Delta and United, and Trans States Airlines, which operates for United and US Airways.
In July, SkyWest Airlines ordered 100 MRJ90 s for delivery in 2017-2020. SkyWest can convert some orders to the smaller MRJ70 if it chooses. SkyWest also flies for United but a scope clause in its pilots contract specifies that planes with 76 or more seats must be flown by the United s own pilots. United would like its pilots to allow regional affiliates to fly higher capacity aircraft.
In an interesting twist, a major airline is going to replace a lot of regional flying with mainline jets. Delta Air Lines recently signed warwick hotel houston a contract to lease all 88 of Southwest Airlines ex-AirTran Airways Boeing 717-200s. The 117-seat twin-jets will be used to replace warwick hotel houston a number of regional jet services out of Atlanta and possibly Detroit. After refurbishing, the first 717 s will begin service with Delta in 2013. I don t expect Peoria to see Delta 717 s, but deployment of these aircraft warwick hotel houston should free up a number of 65-seat CRJ700s, and possibly some Embraer 170 and 175s (with 70 and 76 seats, respectively) for routes like Peoria-Atlanta.
So how will regional airlines conversion to larger jets affect Peoria? Will this result in fewer flight frequencies, and even destinations? In time, the following items, some facts, some speculation, will determine the course of Peoria s air service.
(1) Effficiencies of larger, new technology regional jets might allow replacement of smaller planes warwick hotel houston one-for-one, especially on longer warwick hotel houston hauls. This should warwick hotel houston prove true for flights from Peoria to Atlanta (Delta), Dallas/Ft. Worth (American) and Denver (United). On the other hand, shorter-haul flying to Chicago-O Hare (Anerican and United) and Detroit (Delta) could be a different story. A single-daily Minneapolis/St. Paul roundtrip (Delta) might not support warwick hotel houston a 70-seat jet, and could be eliminated.
(2) Fuel prices will determine airline fleet decisions. By the early 2000s, the regional jet revolution eliminated most turboprop flying in the United States. But turboprops are more fuel-efficient than regional jets. So it is ironic that Colgan Air dba Continental Connection began operating fifteen 74-seat Bombardier Q400 s out of Newark in early 2008 in place of some 37- and 50-seat warwick hotel houston regional jets. The use of these large turboprops enabled Continental to increase seating capacity without adding flights. This might be an option for other airlines seeking to increase capacity, but also reduce fuel costs. American Airlines warwick hotel houston and United Airlines regional partners could replace shorthaul regional jet flying from Chicago-O Hare with similar aircraft. Question is, will the flying public accept turboprops?
(3) In another scenario, rising operating costs might end most short-haul warwick hotel houston flying (250-300 miles or less) out of Chicago-O Hare. To compensate, United (Express) could offer an additional Denver roundtrip and new Cleveland flights.
American warwick hotel houston (Eagle) would have fewer options other than adding a fourth (and fifth) DFW roundtrip, except through a merger. When it emerges from Chapter 11, American Airlines might be acquired by US Airways, with the former s name surviving. This marriage would give AA three additional hubs Charlotte, Philadelphia and Phoenix as well as a focus city at Washington DC s Reagan National Airport. American (Connection/Eagle) could drop its Peoria-O Hare flights and replace them with nonstops to Charlotte warwick hotel houston and Philadelphia. Personally, I d like to see Peoria Chicago-O Hare flights continue.
(4) Bloomington-Normal s Central Illinois Regional Airport (CIRA) is another factor. A huge one. Just days after AirTran Airways made public its decision to drop CIRA, Delta Connection announced restoration of its Peoria-Atlanta nonstops. CIRA has thus far been unable to fully replace AirTran, but it is trying. warwick hotel houston It recently won Small Community Air Service Development (SCASD) funds to help convince an airline to offer service to either New York or Washington DC.
Frontier Airlines is essentially de-hubbing Denver, making it a destination instead of a connecting point. The carrier s quad-weekly evening CIRA-Denver flights seem designed for leisure, not business, travelers. Which is why I believe United Express twice-daily Peoria-Denver flights are safe.
What ll be interesting to watch at CIRA is how American (Eagle) and Delta (Connection) warwick hotel houston convert to bigger regional jets. Delta s Atlanta flights are already flown by the larger regional aircraft, but Detroit and Minneapolis/St. Paul flights are infrequent (one and two roundtrips, respectively, possibly one more apiece during the summer travel season), and passenger loads might not be sufficient for continued operation once the 50-seat jets are retired.
In summary, changes in PIA s air service will probably come mainly from deployment of larger regional jets, but not significantly more flights and destinations, save for Allegiant Air s plans for Mexico and Caribbean warwick hotel houston flights.
David P. Jordan on Airline to Become warwick hotel houston Rail User? Brian Carlson on Airline to Become Rail User? David P. Jordan on Orascom Fertilizer Plant Update PEORIA on Orascom Fertilizer Plant Update David P. Jordan on Contact Page