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Peoria International Airport

Good News from PIA: Airport of the Year and two record setting months

Peoria, IL – The Illinois Department of Transportation, Division of Aeronautics, has named the General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport (PIA) the Primary Airport of the Year for 2024. A Primary Airport is defined by the FAA as one having more than 10,000 annual airline passengers. PIA was named in addition to six other airports in different categories based on their accomplishments, commitment to customer safety and satisfaction, coordination with the state, safety record, maintenance of the facility, and promotion of aviation and educational events. A key factor in PIA’s selection was the progress in a major project toward replacing the aging Airport Authority owned Air Traffic Control Tower. 

In addition to receiving this honor, PIA has also set two consecutive monthly passenger records. August and September of 2024 saw more passengers pass through PIA’s gates than ever before. These two months represent the first times since the Covid pandemic that the airport has set monthly passenger count records. 

In August, PIA served 57,353 passengers, 1.3% higher than the previous August record set in 2019 (56,639). This also represented an increase over August of last year of more than 11%. September’s passenger count was 53,796, which exceeds the previous best September count of 51,820 by nearly 4%. That mark had stood since September of 2014. September of 2024 exceeds the month’s total for last year by over 12%. 

“We continue to see strong numbers month after month and are thrilled we set new monthly records for August and September, which are slower months after the Summer rush,” said Gene Olson, Director of Airports for the Metropolitan Airport Authority of Peoria. “The airlines are gearing up for the holidays and we expect to finish strong.”, Olson said. “This is the first time we’ve set a monthly record since the pandemic. This brings us back to the peak passenger activity we were seeing before Covid.” 

PIA’s record year was set in 2019 with 689,416 total passengers. This year to date, PIA is only 2.7% off that mark. In the month of August PIA saw a total of 400 commercial passenger flights, and in September the airport supported 385 commercial departures. 

“We are VERY pleased with our recovery through the past few years. We want to thank our passengers for “Flying PIA” and we hope that our passengers continue to push PIA activity to new heights through the end of this year and into the future,” concluded Olson.