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Economy

QC - DC Flights Will End

Less than a year after they started, passenger flights between the Quad Cities and Washington DC will end. Thursday the airport announced round trips on United Express that began in October will stop in June.

The reason, according to Director of Aviation Bruce Carter, is not enough passengers so the service is "financial un-sustainable."

Starting the service took years of work by the airport and Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce, based on the ideas that it would help the people who travel between the Rock Island Arsenal and Washington, and it would give local residents non-stop access to another major east coast airport, Washington Dulles. 

Local officials had estimated 10,000 people travel between here and DC each year. 

Funding for the service comes from federal and state grants, plus the Chamber of Commerce and Quad City Airport. 

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.