CID: Cedar Rapids Airport Thread

[Brady]

I flew out of CID a couple weeks ago and was very impressed with the remodeling in the concourse. It looks very modern and sophisticated. Hopefully renovations to the main level (ticketing / baggage) will bring it up to the same quality.

[JMsioux]

I've generally been pretty impressed with CID since moving here and welcome the choices in direct flights versus what we had in Sioux City -- Mpls or drive to Omaha, which I loathed or Sioux Falls which I never did. My son is an airplane junky and we've actually taken trips out there during some active landing and departure times so he could watch from near the rental car area. He also likes to see which car Duffy has on display inside since he is also a car junky -- at the ripe old age of six. Proud papa, I am. While low on the list, the airport was one of the reasons we chose CR as a place to relocate to when we decided to move this summer.

[JMsioux]

Not sure where to put this but since I'm inquiring about property near the airport, here it is. There is dirt work going on at a fairly large tract near the Kirkwood Sports complex on Wright Brothers Blvd SW. Anyone know what's going on there?

[JMsioux]

It's the new National Guard building

[CRUNIFan]

United Announces Cedar Rapids to Houston

From the Gazette:

Business and leisure travelers will be able to fly non-stop from The Eastern Iowa Airport to George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston beginning May 3.

Continental Airlines will offer two round-trip flights daily between Cedar Rapids and Houston on 50-seat regional jets. The flights will be operated by Continental Express.

Link: http://thegazette.com/2010/10/22/cedar-rapids-houston-flights-launch-may-3/

[JMsioux]

Based on what I've paid to fly to Houston and DFW from Omaha in the past, the fare isn't too bad. I checked a flight leaving 5-21, returning 5-28 and the base fare was $294.

[JMsioux]

After chasing them for some time, initially for service to Milwaukee (which is ending), Frontier will now begin service to Denver beginning on May 17 with an initial schedule of four weekly flights with the possibility of additional flights, depending on demand. Based on regaining service to Atlanta via Delta and Continental adding Houston, the demand will ultimately be there for additional Frontier flights to Denver. Six airlines now serve CID with eleven non-stop destinations.

After eclipsing the one million passenger mark in 2000 and 2005 thru 2007, peaking at 1,060,120 in 2007, maybe this will start a reversal of declining passenger numbers at CID. Passenger count is listed 912,318 for 2010 on the airport's website.

Link to KCRG story below:

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/Cedar-Ra ... 16714.html

[JMsioux]

While the Des Moines International Airport garnered some much deserved attention this week for increased passenger numbers, I also noticed that CID is up 12% in a May '11 vs. May '12 comparison and is also up 12% in the January '11 - May'11 vs. January '12 - May '12 comparison. Also, the total number of pounds of freight shipped through CID has also increased during those same periods.
I have my doubts as to whether the airport will hit 1 million total passengers again this year for the first time since 2007, but but the numbers do look good since Frontier just began service on May 17 and only accounted for 878 passengers. How many of Frontier's passengers simply migrate from CID's current carriers has yet to be seen but they will certainly bring in passengers from surrounding areas who may not have flown CID before Air Tran vacated MLI. A 12% total increase over 2011 passenger numbers would leave CID at about 984,000 which would be the highest since 2008.

http://www.eiairport.org/about/Stats/CI ... istics.pdf

[JMsioux]

Gazette article on continued increased boardings at CID. July traffic, including charters, was up 15% over July '11 and total passenger count is up 12.9% in 2012 vs. 2011. Delta alone is up 23.4% in 2012 compared to 2011. Planes averaging 76% capacity thus far, still looking like around 960,000 total passengers for 2012.

http://thegazette.com/2012/08/27/passen ... a-airport/

[CRUNIFan]

Another article on the increase in traffic at CID: http://thegazette.com/2012/09/24/numbers-trending-positive-at-eastern-iowa-airport/

Some highlights:

-Flights are up 13.2% since last year through August
-Frontier is increasing flights from CR to Denver
-Airport is looking to renovate the terminal building (discussed below)



"The commission on Monday took the first step toward remodeling the passenger terminal lobby, which has remained largely unchanged for 25 years. Foth Infrastructure and Environment of Cedar Rapids was awarded a contract for preliminary design services, not to exceed $186,895.

Bradshaw said passengers arriving in the upper concourse of the terminal see a different view than the lower area of the terminal.

“The upper terminal is very modern with seats offering plug-ins for travelers using laptop computers, WiFi and other amenities,” he said. “That remodeling was completed in 2009.

“Once you come down the escalator, you go through a time warp. You’re back in the 1980s because we haven’t touched the land side of the airport.

“We’ve rebuilt the primary runway and half of the secondary runway as well as some taxiways. It’s time for improvements in the terminal, which are more visible to passengers using the airport.”

Bradshaw said Mead & Hunt Inc., a Madison, Wis., consulting firm working with the airport to develop a new 20-year master plan, may share some preliminary concepts for the terminal remodeling at a Nov. 15 public meeting. He said construction likely will begin in the summer of 2013, with completion expected in 2014."

[DMRyan]

Passenger traffic up at CID 13.9% this year, and is supposed to hit 500,000 enplanements for the first time since 2007. Cargo traffic is up 13% too.

CID has 5 airlines that fly to 11 markets

http://thegazette.com/2012/12/14/easter ... er-growth/

[JMsioux]

Here's a breakdown of the current statistics:

http://www.eiairport.org/about/Stats/CI ... istics.pdf

[DMRyan]

United is ending the twice daily CID to IAH service in April 2013.

http://thegazette.com/2013/01/07/united ... d-houston/

[JMsioux]

I'm going to guess that CID ends up around 985,000 for the year, with the best total passenger count since 2008.

[JMsioux]

985,141 is the final total for 2012.

[CRUNIFan]

The CR Gazette is reporting that the Eastern Iowa airport will be debt free in fiscal year 2015! By comparison, CR airport currently has $1.5 million in long term debt outstanding, QC airport has $24.7 million and DSM airport has $45.2 million.

With that said, there is a good, healthy balance of debt to have, so I'd like to see some capital and infrastructure investments made.

[JMsioux]

Nice mention out of Columbia, MO

http://www.komu.com/news/8-on-your-side ... l-airport/

[JMsioux]

American / US Airways merger may benefit CID. Hubs are currently in Charlotte, Philadelphia and Phoenix, which is a strong market for CID already. Allegiant flies to Mesa but US Airways flies to Sky Harbir

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/American ... &smobile=y

[CRUNIFan]

Nice mention that we are in negotiating to get direct service to Washington, DC. I'd really prefer NYC or Boston, but no one asked me.

[JMsioux]

Numbers for January '13 show a 14.6% increase over January '12. What also stuck out to me was that in previous years, the December to January numbers dipped by quite a bit in some instances but the number of passengers from December '12 to January '13 remained virtually the same: 76,609 - 76,592. Planes are flying out at an average of 80% capacity.
Freight numbers did trend down a bit, though.

[JMsioux]

February was a record month at the airport with 79359 passengers passing through the gates surpassing the previous February record of 78838, set in 2006. This also marks a 10.5% increase over February 2012 of 71371 with passenger load hovering at 80%.
This certainly bodes well for March which has shown spikes in passenger numbers in recent years with increases of around 20000 passengers over February.

From KCRG:
http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/Eastern- ... 65281.html

[JMsioux]

March is another record month for Eastern Iowa Airport. The airport saw a record 99,664 passengers come through the doors breaking the old record of 98,435 which was set in 2000. This also marks the second month in a row with record monthly passenger numbers. Staff believes that numbers would have been higher with better weather because several flights were cancelled in March. 100,000 passengers was certainly within sight....

Story from KCRG:

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/March-is ... witterfeed

[DMRyan]

Nice to see CID is holding it's own. I thought it too would take a hit when SW Airlines landed in DSM, but it must be capturing a lot of Eastern Iowa traffic that was previously going to the Quad Cities. East Central Iowa is growing at a pretty clip, which may have something to do with it as well.

[Keepgrowingdsm]

Nice to see CID is holding it's own. I thought it too would take a hit when SW Airlines landed in DSM, but it must be capturing a lot of Eastern Iowa traffic that was previously going to the Quad Cities. East Central Iowa is growing at a pretty clip, which may have something to do with it as well.

It may take a hit once SWA flights to the west open up this fall along with possibly more frequencies to the east as well. Frontier is helping CID a lot but Frontier may also be sold and their hub moved from Denver because SWA and United are controlling most of Denver right now. I've seen articles where New Orleans is trying to lure Frontier's Denver hub there and they just opened a mini hub in Trenton NJ for major east coast cities to get to Florida and major market destinations without having to fly to Philly or New York first.

[JMsioux]

Frontier certainly has helped but they only have ten flights per week, five in / five out. At current airport-wide load levels, which are around 80%, it's likely that Frontier could account for about 40,000 - 45,000 passengers per year with their 99 seat planes.

[JMsioux]

Article on Eastern Iowa Airport talking about space constraints as passenger numbers continue to climb to record numbers and some of the plans to create space and update the airport
Eastern Iowa Airport updates planned | Corridor Business Journal
http://www.corridorbusiness.com/news/ea ... s-planned/

[JMsioux]

April is third consecutive record month at Eastern Iowa Airport. A total of 85,676 passengers passed through the gates, breaking the old record of 85,452 set in 2007. A record number of enplanements was also set for April with 42,315.