Central Illinois travelers looking for a nonstop flight to Detroit will have to spend some time in the car first.
Delta will discontinue its two weekday roundtrip flights from the Peoria International Airport to Detroit on Nov. 27, the airport announced this week.
“We’re disappointed to lose direct access to this hub airport, but unfortunately we aren’t surprised,” said Airport Director Gene Olson. “This goes to what we’ve been saying: Use it or lose it.”
The route has struggled to be profitable for Delta, Olson said in a statement Wednesday.
“Some of our neighboring airports are also seeing cuts,” Olson said. “The only way to keep the service we have is to consistently use it. Losing Detroit is a wake-up call. We cannot afford to take anything we have for granted.”
Delta once had nonstop service to Detroit from Bloomington's Central Illinois Regional Airport too. But that service ended in 2016. The closest nonstop service would now be in Chicago and St. Louis.
"While it was a great connector going to the east, changes in the automobile industry and the impact it had on local firms and vendors in fourth quarter 2015 led to a significant drop in traffic between our market and the Detroit area," CIRA spokesperson Fran Strebing said in an email.
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