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Economy

Passenger Traffic Continues to Improve at QC Airport

2018-yellow, 2019-orange, 2020-blue, 2021-green, 2022-purple
Quad Cities International Airport
2018-yellow, 2019-orange, 2020-blue, 2021-green, 2022-purple

Two years after the pandemic began, passenger traffic continues to improve at the Quad Cities International Airport.

The total number of people arriving and departing in April rose 32 per cent compared to the same month a year ago, and for the year so far is 50 per cent ahead of last year.

When COVID began in the spring of 2020, April traffic was just 2,700. One year later it improved to 36,000, and continued rising to more than 48,000 last month (4/2022).

All four airlines serving the Quad Cities have carried more passengers so far this year - 26 per cent more for American, 38 per cent more for Allegiant, a 53 per cent increase for United, and Delta reports a 113 per cent increase.

Still, airport officials report serious challenges are holding back the recovery in air travel. Demand is high but the airlines are dealing with high fuel prices, and staff shortages caused by the pandemic.

Economy
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.