An airline's return to Central Illinois Regional Airport is delayed again.
Signs from multiple airlines greet travelers as they enter CIRA, including one from United Airlines. A sign near the baggage claim advertises nonstop flights to and from CIRA to O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, but none of those flights will be arriving or departing anytime soon.
CIRA Marketing and Communications Manager Melissa Beaver said the airport and United were ready to start offering four daily flights to and from O'Hare in May.
"The ground handling was already laid out," Beaver said. "The ticketing, every aspect of staffing for that, we had signage already out of the terminal roadway, signage out in the terminal."
However, the Federal Aviation Administration enacted a limit on the number of daily flights out of O'Hare, also known by its airport code ORD, a few days before the flights were set to begin. The new target was October 2026, but the FAA recently extended its limit to October 2027.
In the order extending the limit, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford pointed to ongoing construction at O'Hare as one of the reasons to keep it in place.
"FAA finds that significant delay and operational disruption would occur at ORD if the ORD order were to expire as originally scheduled," the order read. Construction is expected to wrap up in summer 2027, which is why the order is extended through October 30, 2027.
The decision impacts nine other airports beyond CIRA.
Willard Airport in Savoy, near Champaign-Urbana, also had United flight plans to Chicago cancelled. Beaver said other impacted regional airports are in Oregon, California, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan.
CIRA already offers three daily flights to O'Hare through American Airlines. Still, Beaver said the four additional flights would give fliers more access to connections at the international hub.
"For a regional airport to get another option for passengers that come from Central Illinois, it would be a wonderful thing for our local economy as well," she said.
Beaver said there is not much the airport or United can do besides wait, since the authority to lift or extend the limit is ultimately in the hands of the FAA.
"We hope that they're going to be here, we're ready for them when the time is ready," she said.
