Technical troubles at major airports can have trickle down effects in smaller facilities like the Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington.
Airport director Carl Olson said, for instance, cutting the number of flights at Newark because of limited staff capacity can increase ticket prices and suppress demand for travel down the chain.
"If somebody decides I'm not going to pay that price to go to Newark, or I'm going to drive three hours to another airport to do it, we lose the revenue because they're not in the restaurants. They're not in the gift shop. They're not renting cars. It does reach us," said Olson.
Passenger traffic at the airport in Bloomington last year was steady — down less than 1% from 2023.
2024: 165,701 enplanements and 163,947 deplanements
2023: 167,597 enplanements and 167,291 deplanements
Olson said it's about the same pace in the first quarter of this year, adding higher leisure travel is offsetting less international and business travel.
Federal cuts
Olson said federal transportation department staff cuts are showing up in relations with airports, with plans to reduce the workforce by 30% have prompting a wave of retirements. He said instead of dealing with somebody in Washington who has 30 years of experience, FAA workers have much less.
"And in some instances, we're finding it’s the airports who are kind of helping the newer staff: ‘This is what you might want to consider in this situation.’ We're not smarter than them, it's just we've been around longer," said Olson.
For instance, he said what might have taken one meeting a couple years ago now may take three sessions to get a decision.
Infrastructure boost
On the other side of the ledger, Olson said last year's aviation authorization bill shepherded through by U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, included money for more air traffic controllers, and a recent Trump administration initiative to hire even more also will benefit the airport in Bloomington
"When you are using equipment in this day and age that still has floppy discs, or if you go into an air traffic control tower, the cab of the tower and you see paper flight strips, it's very safe but, it's just not the most efficient way. This investment is going to be a positive thing," said Olson.
Non-hub primary airports like CIRA make up about 4.6% of projected airport infrastructure needs, according to Airports Council International – North America, an industry advocacy group.
The proposal includes an additional $800 million for operations, including air traffic controllers and telecommunications systems, and an initial step in a multi-year effort to replace aging radar systems. The impact of proposed reductions in support for so-called "essential air service" to rural areas is not yet clear.
Rising costs
There's no impact yet on the Central Illinois Regional Airport from cost increases driven by U.S. trade wars. Olson said it could be coming.
"We're seeing early indications with tariffs on our prices for components for operating the airport. We're just starting to see the first itches of...we need to be cognizant of this," said Olson.
Olson said CIRA is trying to manage looming price increases through strict cost control. Property taxes make up a little more than a quarter of the airport budget. The rest comes from operating revenue.
