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Economy

Passenger Traffic Recovering at QC Airport

WVIK, Quad Cities NPR | By Herb Trix
Published March 22, 2022 at 1:42 PM CDT
qc airport traffic 2018 - 2022.PNG
Quad Cities International Airport
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Purple-2022, Green-2021, Blue-2020, Red-2019, Orange-2018

A strong start for the new year at the Quad Cities International Airport - after rising 64 per cent in January, passenger traffic went up 70 per cent in February, compared to the same months a year ago.

Nearly 41,000 people traveled through the airport in February, up from 24,000 last year.

Of the four airlines serving the airport, Delta reported the biggest increase in traffic - up 147 per cent from a year ago. And that was mainly due to the airline's COVID mitigations last year, including blocking seats.

Traffic rose around 40 per cent for Allegiant and American, and 90 per cent for United.

Airport officials say the recovery to pre-pandemic levels still has a long way to go, and may not occur until next year. Because of crew shortages, airlines are cutting routes and the overall numbers of flights.

Economy
Herb Trix
A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois. While a graduate student in the Public Affairs Reporting Program at the University of Illinois at Springfield (then known as Sangamon State University), he got his first taste of public radio, covering Illinois state government for WUIS. Here in the Quad Cities, Herb worked for WHBF Radio before coming to WVIK in 1987. Herb also produces the weekly public affairs feature Midwest Week – covering the news behind the news by interviewing reporters about the stories they cover.
See stories by Herb Trix