A report on the state’s airports put forth by the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Division of Aeronautics gave the Vermilion Regional Airport a solid report on it’s overall economic impact on the state and region; based on the business, cargo, and private traffic that comes in; along with hosted community events. Airport manager Alex Gale explains.
AUDIO: So the overall number that we received was $10.5 million, which is a good amount for Danville. I think that was kind of surprising for us to see and some other people in the community. One of the other things that was nice to see was the visitors’ spending number, which was $1.5 million. So that’s the amount of money that is brought into Danville and Vermilion County from people who come in via air.
The numbers in this state report are from 2019, and it goes without saying that 2020 and 2021 numbers will be affected by COVID. But eyeing the future, Gale says two things she’d really like to see are more freight traffic at Vermilion Regional Airport, along with more community events bringing people from both near and far.
AUDIO: You know we have UPS here, and I think that we can expand on that. I think we can attract other cargo carriers to use Vermilion Regional as kind of a local or regional hub. I would still like to see more community events happen out here that can attract people both landside and airside.
And for those of us old enough to remember the Allegheny commuters to Chicago back in the 70s, Gale says when it comes to commercial air traffic, that’s a tough sell right now for two reasons. One, you have nearby commercial airports in Indianapolis, Champaign, and Bloomington, and then of course Peoria and Chicago further out. AND, Vermilion Regional Airport currently does not have the infrastructure needed for today’s commercial air travel. But for way down the road, Gale says, she’ll never say never.
