CIRA is seeing an uptick in travel but experiencing a pilot shortage

Posted on March 16, 2022
Even before the pandemic, airports felt the pinch, but now Fran Strebing, Deputy Director at CIRA, said it’s even worse. (Photo courtesy: WJBC/File)

By Blake Haas

BLOOMINGTON – Passenger travel is on the rise at Central Illinois Regional Airport (CIRA); however, the airport is experiencing a pilot shortage.

A pilot shortage coupled with rising gas prices is putting a bottleneck into travel all across the board.

“Airlines were already talking about pilot shortages prior to COVID, and what has happened in the last two years has only accelerated that issue,” Fran Strebing, Deputy Director at CIRA, told WJBC’s, Scott Miller. “And we’re seeing it across the board really in terms of airports, it’s not just airlines with pilots with a flight crew, and ground crew, in our airport, you know our car rentals, our concessionaires, TSA, everyone is having a little bit of a problem staffing back up to the high levels before COVID; but yet we’re seeing a lot of passengers.”

As the Bloomington airport welcomes back travels, fuel costs are also impacting travel.

“We’re excited and certainly happy to welcome back lots of passengers and looking forward to it, but I guess we’re asking everyone to understand the bigger picture, in what’s going on in the industry and how it’s impacting things.”

According to the Regional Airline Association, regulators certified 4,928 new commercial pilots in 2021, less than half of the 11,526 the group estimated U.S. airlines planned to hire.

Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…