The General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport [PIA] broke an all-time travel record in March.
According to marketing and public relations manager Cheryl Bockhold-Sloan, the airport saw more passengers in March than any single month at any other time in its history. The airport reports 71,988 people departed and arrived at PIA.
The figure represents an increase of 18% from March 2024 and beats the previous monthly high by more than 5%. The previous record was set in July 2019 with 68,477 passengers.
“We knew that March was going to put up some impressive numbers, based on the activity in our parking lots, and we suspected we might set a record. But we didn’t anticipate breaking the all-time monthly record, and we didn’t foresee setting the record by that large of a margin,” said Gene Olson, director of airports for the Metropolitan Airport Authority of Peoria.
Olson said it’s not unusual for the month of March to set records at PIA. He said peak travel usually occurs as students and families go on spring break trips, or as people depart on summer vacations.
“It kind of depends on how school systems set up their academic calendars and when their spring breaks fall,” said Olson. “Sometimes it gets really stretched out, so you’ll see March and April have a lot of spring break traffic. But this year it seemed like it was really concentrated into March.”
Olson said there are several other factors contributing to the record numbers, including a consistent appetite for travel that started after COVID-era travel restrictions were lifted, new flights at PIA and a rising number of pilots and flight attendants to meet the demand.
“After COVID, I think, the airlines laid off something like 6,000 pilots across the country, and you don’t just create a new pilot by putting an ad in the paper and saying, ‘Hey, come fly for us,’” said Olson. “A pilot has to go to simulator training. They have to have 1,500 hours of flight time. You basically have to grow a pilot.”
Real ID reminder
As PIA prepares to move from a record-setting spring travel season to another busy summer travel season, Olson wants to remind travelers not to forget about Real ID. The Real ID program is a federal identification law that originates in legislation passed in the years following the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
After May 7, Americans will have to have a Real ID, basically a higher level of driver’s license, to board a domestic flight. Olson said there are some substitutes, like a passport or a background check process, but those take a significant amount of time.
“[TSA] can work to try to get you through a background check and try to verify you are who you say you are,” he said. “Bring whatever you have and you may still get through.”
If you’re unsure about your Real ID status and boarding a flight after May 7, Olson stressed it’s important to get to the airport very early.
Appointments to get a Real ID are available at most Illinois department of motor vehicles [DMV] offices. A checklist of what you need for the process and more information on the program is available here.
