Cities that want airline routes get airline routes
I recently got a question about the interconnection between airline service and economic development. The question was, “Isn’t Springfield too small and near other cities of the same or larger size to attract mainline commercial airline routes?” I did some research on other capital cities that are not in the top 100 busiest airports and some of the findings astonished me.
| Airport code | Capital City | City Pop. | Area (MSA) Pop. | # Flights | Drive distance to Hub | Hub Airport | Hub City |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SLE | Salem, OR | 175K | 433K (incl. Portland) | 0 | 63 Miles | PDX | Portland, OR |
| OLM | Olympia, WA | 55K | 4 Million (incl. Seattle) | 0 | 55 Miles | SEA | Seattle, WA |
| CSN | Carson City, NV | 59K | 491K (incl. Reno) | 0 | 28 Miles | RNO | Reno, NV |
| HLN | Helena, MT | 32K | 83K | 6 | 89 Miles | BZN | Bozeman, MT |
| CHY | Cheyenne, WY | 101K | 101K | 2 | 109 Miles | DEN | Denver, CO |
| SAF | Santa Fe, NM | 89K | 924K (incl. ABQ) | 7 | 60 Miles | ABQ |
Albuquerque, NM |
| PIR | Pierre, SD | 14K | 18K | 2 | 350 Miles | MSP | Minneapolis, MN |
| BIS | Bismarck, ND | 74K | 136K | 10 | 408 Miles | MSP | Minneapolis, MN |
| LNK | Lincoln, NE | 295K | 340K | 8 | 66 Miles | OMA | Omaha, NE |
| FOE | Topeka, KS | 127K | 232K | 0 | 72 Miles | MCI | Kansas City, MO |
| COU | Jefferson City, MO | 43K | 360K (incl. Columbia) | 5 | 120 Miles | STL | St. Louis, MO |
| SPI | Springfield, IL | 134K | 197K | 2 | 110 Miles | STL | St. Louis, MO |
It appears that being in a major metropolitan area does not severely curtail mainline airlines from wanting to serve your city. Santa Fe is 60 miles away from Albuquerque and has 7 flights a day to airline hubs, none of which are Albuquerque. Also, the driving distance to a major airport (defined as serving over 1 Million passengers a year) is also not a factor in the level of service. The airports that are gaining airline routes and passenger traffic are making it a priority to attract airline routes to serve their communities.
That is why I am running. Springfield does have a significant tourism industry around our state fair, convention spaces and the Lincoln sites. We need good airline route access to serve this industry. The new high speed Amtrak service will help draw people from St. Louis and Chicago but it does little to attract interest from outside our immediate region. Tourists are accustomed to flying to their destination, renting a vehicle and seeing the sights. New businesses looking to expand or relocate are interested in the availability of getting their workers in and out of an area easily rather than driving in from 60 to 100 miles away particularly when the area has a significant population. Our city and county are at a critical point. We can grow in size due to our cheaper housing (compared to many other cities of our size and importance) and better economic conditions compared to much of Illinois. Or, we could shrink and lose businesses and growth to Bloomington or Peoria simply because their airports have better service.
We are in a competition whether our governments want to admit it or not. I’m committed to helping Springfield and Sangamon County win! I hope you will join me and voting for me this November.
Posted on 07 Jul 2024, 9:11 - Category: Campaign Platform