For the third consecutive year, the Eastern Iowa Airport (CID) has broken its annual passenger record with more than 1.3 million people choosing to fly CID in 2019.
That number is 11.4 percent more than the previous annual passenger record set in 2018. The airport had 672,468 enplaned passengers (those who boarded planes at CID) and 670,151 deplaned passengers.
“Airlines are investing in the region with additional flights and capacity, and regional travelers have responded,” says Marty Lenss, CID airport director. “This is a direct reflection of a strong, diverse economy. Business travel has been strong and regional residents are also taking advantage of low fares offered by our low-cost carriers for travel to vacation destinations.”
Lenss noted that a factor in the 2019 record numbers were the addition of two destinations: Allegiant added nonstop service to Nashville (BNA) and American Airlines added nonstop service to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX).
“At the time we released the information for the 2018 record, we had 13 nonstop destinations,” Lenss says. “What a difference a year makes, now we have 15 nonstop destinations and a double-digit increase in seats.”
CID is served by five airlines: American, Delta, United and two, low-cost carriers: Allegiant and Frontier.
Based on capacity projections for the next few months, CID looks to have another strong year. Capacity – the number of seats in the market – is up year over year for January by 18 percent, February is up 25 percent over February 2019 and March shows an increase of 17 percent over the same month last year.
Recent air service additions include American adding a third daily flight to Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) and a fourth daily flight to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) that will begin in May. Also in May, United Airlines is increasing the number of daily flights to Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) from five daily flights to seven. This will provide increased opportunities for people to connect through United’s main hub airport.
