CIRA CELEBRATES TWO MAJOR MILESTONES TODAY

BLOOMINGTON , IL (Tuesday, December 19, 2006)- Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington has reached two major milestones in its history today and a celebration is planned for this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. in the terminal building.    The airport has surpassed 500,000 passengers in one year for the first time ever and a lucky passenger has won a trip for four to Orlando on AirTran Airways.  AirTran Airways, a low fare leader in the airline industry, is also celebrating an anniversary at Central Illinois Regional Airport .  Today marks the tenth anniversary of the initiation of AirTran’s service to Bloomington-Normal.

With November 2006 passenger traffic numbers tallied, the airport has already seen more passengers in one year than the previous record set in the year 2000.  The 500,000^th passenger passed through the terminal building late last week.  Projections for a year end total are estimated at 515,000 total passengers for the year 2006. 

“Through November our passenger traffic is 13.4% above last year’s traffic count at a time when the rest of the country is showing no growth or negative growth in passenger volume this year,” said BNAA Chairman Paul Harmon., “ We are ecstatic that central Illinois passengers are choosing to access their business and vacation destinations through our facility.  Certainly, AirTran Airways has been a huge draw to our passengers and we are appreciative of their ten years of excellent service to our community. “

AirTran Airways began service in and out of Bloomington-Normal on December 19, 1996 with one nonstop flight per day to Orlando , Florida .  The first airline in the post deregulation era to fly full size jets into Central Illinois, the flight became an immediate phenomenon drawing passengers from sixty to ninety miles away to access America ’s number one vacation spot   In the late 1990s, the airline grew and began to use Atlanta , Georgia as a hub airport.  Flights from the Atlanta hub to Bloomington-Normal expanded to three daily with connections available to over forty destinations at the time.  Today, AirTran  Airways offers passengers fifty destinations through Atlanta ..  Orlando is still a focus city for the airline and a nonstop flight operates four times weekly from Bloomington-Normal  Now operating Boeing 717 jets to the airport, the airline offers XM Satellite radio and Business Class seating on every flight.. 

The celebration for both events is at 4:00 p.m. today in the sculpture garden of the terminal building.  Local dignitaries will join the airport in celebrating the 500,000^th passenger mark and in thanking AirTran for their ten years of service to the community.                                                ###

Carl Olson   Phone (309) 663-7384  Central Illinois Regional Airport