What Else, Rockford?

Another story by Tom Bona at the Rockford Register. Remember Rockford was in a similar poistion as ORH with no commercial passengers who just last month (February) had 18,663 passengers. Please note the differences. There Executive Director, who did an interview here last week, is constantly in the news selling the benefits of Rockford and even freely mentions the airports that they are trying to lure for a Phoenix flight--1) Allegiant, 2) Festival and 3)SkyValue.

Airport wants Phoenix-area route

There’s plenty of interest on both ends, and Chicago/Rockford International Airport and Williams Gateway Airport in Mesa, Ariz., have lobbied airlines to make that link.“Regularly scheduled service from RFD to Phoenix through Mesa is a very high priority for our airport authority as our next destination to be launched, hopefully soon. But needless to say before the fall migration,” Rockford airport Executive Director Bob O’Brien said.

Rockford also has scored high on a survey on Williams Gateway’s Web site, www.flywga.org. As of last week, there were 5,700 respondents and 406 of them named Rockford as a destination they wanted. About 1,200 listed Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, even though there’s already direct service to O’Hare from nearby Phoenix.“People have made a specific mention of Rockford over O’Hare which is, I think, saying a lot,” Williams Gateway Airport spokesman Brian Sexton said. “There’s a strong Chicago base in the valley so it makes sense to connect the two airports.”O’Brien said they’ve spoken with at least three airlines. They are startup Festival Airlines, which hasn’t announced any routes; SkyValue, which flies from Gary/Chicago International Airport to Williams Gateway Airport; and Allegiant Air, which flies to Rockford and Williams.

Staff writer Thomas V. Bona may be contacted at 815-987-1343 or tbona@rrstar.com.