General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport is a civil/military public airport five miles west of Peoria, in

Peoria County Peoria County is located in the U.S. state of Illinois. The 2020 United States Census listed its population at 181,830. Its county seat is Peoria. Peoria County is part of the Peoria, IL Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Peoria County was ...

, Illinois, United States. It is on the northwest edge of Bartonville, near

Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. It may refer to: Placenames Australia * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Glebe, an historic house in Sydney, New South Wales Canada ...

. It is owned by the Metropolitan Airport Authority of Peoria, which often refers to it as Peoria International Airport. It was formerly the Greater Peoria Regional Airport. The

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

(FAA)

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. NPIAS was developed and now maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It identifies existing and proposed airports tha ...

for 2017–2021 categorized it as a non-hub primary commercial service facility.

records say the airport had 312,378 passenger boardings (enplanements) in

calendar year Generally speaking, a calendar year begins on the New Year's Day of the given calendar system and ends on the day before the following New Year's Day, and thus consists of a whole number of days. A year can also be measured by starting on any o ...

2017 and 328,769 in 2018. It is the fourth-busiest of the 12 commercial airports in Illinois.

History

On May 19, 1932, the citizens of Peoria voted to have an airport. On 195 acres (0.8 km²), American Airways (now

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

) and

Chicago and Southern Airlines (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

brought in airmail and passenger service on four shale-surfaced runways. The land was purchased by 261 Peoria businessmen who formed the Peoria Airport, Inc. It was turned over to the Peoria Park District in 1937, then to the newly formed Metropolitan Airport Authority of Peoria in 1950. American Airlines and Chicago and Southern started flights to Peoria in 1945; C&S pulled out in 1949-50 and American left in 1962, then returned for a couple years starting in 1991. TWA served Peoria 1947 to 1960 and 1983 to 1991; Continental 1977 to 1983, United 1984 to 1995, Republic/Northwest 1986 to 1988, and Ozark from 1950 until it merged into TWA. Peoria's first jets were Ozark DC9s in 1966. A curious artifact of airline regulation: Peoria had never had nonstop flights beyond Chicago, but in 1969 Ozark was allowed a nonstop to New York La Guardia. On April 25, 2007, the Greater Peoria Airport Authority announced a new nine-gate terminal will be built and the old terminal demolished. On October 10, 2008, the airport was renamed "General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport" during a groundbreaking ceremony attended by

Ross Perot Henry Ross Perot (; June 27, 1930 – July 9, 2019) was an American business magnate, billionaire, politician and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems. He ran an inde ...

, a friend of the late Wayne A. Downing. The new terminal, designed by Reynolds, Smith & Hills of Jacksonville, Florida and the Dewberry architecture firm of Peoria, and built by

Turner Construction Turner Construction is an American construction company with presence in 20 countries. It is a subsidiary of the German company Hochtief. It is the largest domestic contractor in the United States as of 2020, with a revenue of $14.41 billion in ...

, opened on April 27, 2011. As of August 24, 2012, the airport was in negotiations for international flights using a temporary customs facility. In 2016, the Ray Lahood International Arrivals Terminal was completed, with more gates, TSA services, and a US Customs Port of Entry facility. In December 2020,

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the List of airlines by foundation date, world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atla ...

pulled all its flights from Peoria.

Facilities

Peoria International Airport covers 3,800 acres (1,538 ha) at an elevation of 661 feet (201 m). It has two runways: 13/31 is 10,104 by 150 feet (3,080 x 46 m) concrete; 4/22 is 8,004 by 150 feet (2,440 x 46 m) concrete. In 2021 the airport had an average 123 operations per day: 54%

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

, 20% military, 14% commercial, and 11%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) an ...

. In June 2018, 69 aircraft were based at this airport: 40 single-engine, 8 jet, 14 military, 3

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

, and 4 multi-engine.

Military

The airport is co-located with the

Peoria Air National Guard Base Peoria Air National Guard Base, located in Peoria County, Illinois, is the base of the 182d Airlift Wing (182 AW), an Air Mobility Command (AMC)-gained unit of the Illinois Air National Guard and "host" wing for the installation. Located at Peo ...

, home to the 182d Airlift Wing (182 AW) of the

Illinois Air National Guard The Illinois Air National Guard (IL ANG) is the aerial militia of the State of Illinois, United States of America. It is, along with the Illinois Army National Guard, an element of the Illinois National Guard. As state militia units, the units ...

. This

Air National Guard The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the ter ...

unit is operationally-gained by the

Air Mobility Command Air Mobility Command (AMC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the U.S. Air Force. It is headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, east of St. Louis, Missouri. Air Mobility Command was established on 1 June 1992, and was formed from elements ...

(AMC) and consists of

Lockheed C-130H Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally design ...

aircraft. The airport is also home to the

Illinois Army National Guard The Illinois Army National Guard is a component of the United States Army and the United States National Guard. With the Illinois Air National Guard it forms the Illinois National Guard. National coordination of various state National Guard uni ...

's Army Aviation Support Facility No. 3 and 1st Battalion, 106th Aviation Regiment, currently operating the Boeing CH-47 "Chinook" helicopter.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

Airline market share

Accidents and incidents

*On October 21, 1971, Chicago & Southern Airlines Flight 804, an ATECO Westwind II, crashed 2 miles west of PIA after striking power lines in limited visibility and low clouds, killing all 14 passengers and two crew. The cause was found to be the pilot knowingly descending below the

minimum descent altitude In aviation, an instrument approach or instrument approach procedure (IAP) is a series of predetermined maneuvers for the orderly transfer of an aircraft operating under instrument flight rules from the beginning of the initial approach to a landi ...

before being visual with the runway.

Notes

References

External links

General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport
– official website
Peoria Air Guard
– official website
Aerial image as of April 1998
from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

The National Map ''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to prov ...

'' * * * Airport diagram fo
1956

{{Aviation in Illinois Peoria Transportation buildings and structures in Peoria County, Illinois