URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — Willard Airport is lobbying for the community’s help to fund new travel service and Monday night, they focused on the city of Urbana.
Willard Airport Executive Director Tim Bannon, Carly McCrory-McKay of the Champaign County Economic Development Corporation and Jack Penning, a consultant for the airport, all spoke at the meeting to present their plea for more funding for their guarantees for the Urbana City Council.
They are hoping for $500,000 in investments to match the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s promised $500,000 in a minimum revenue guarantee for potential airlines. Their goal is to secure funding by April 1 to facilitate talks with potential airlines.
The minimum revenue guarantee requires local businesses to set aside money for a potential airline while they start out service in case Willard flights aren’t as profitable as they hope.
“We only have the responsibility of making up a loss against that cost,” Penning said. “If they are able to generate enough ticket revenue, bag revenue, etc. to be profitable, we owe the airline nothing.”
The revenue calculated for the MRG would be aggregated quarterly, so businesses wouldn’t have to pay for individual flights that don’t sell well.
McCrory-McKay said new flights not only would help attract businesses, tourists, and talent to the area, but retain workers whose companies are far away.
“This is something that comes up quite a bit when new talent is considering our community, and we are a community that is attractive for remote workers.” McCrory-McKay said. “Having the flexibility, especially around leisure air travel, is a key component to attract and retain remote workers here.”
Penning also noted the reverse flights could attract Floridians who have family in central Illinois to visit more often, stimulating the local economy.
In the presentation, the officials compared Willard’s business to Bloomington and Springfield’s airports. Springfield launched a partnership with Breeze Airways in December with several flights a week to both Orlando and Tampa. Bloomington has had leisure flights with Allegiant to Florida since 2007.
Penning argued that flights from Willard would stimulate the economy even more than Springfield and Bloomington.
“We are really in a much better position than our peers, and that’s because the economy here is much stronger here than the rest of the state of Illinois,” Penning said. “Champaign-Urbana is the only metro area in the state of Illinois that grew in population last year.”
$3.6 million was generated in tax revenue from Willard Airport in 2019.
They also noted that Willard’s data shows the main market for the airport is Champaign County residents. Willard data shows that 44% of passengers for its 2019 flights came from Champaign, and 21% came from Urbana.
“We just don’t want people from Champaign County to drive to Chicago or Indianapolis or to Bloomington,” Penning added. “We want them to fly out of their own airport.”
Finally, Penning estimated the cost of tickets would be under $100.
The council did not comment on the presentation, but will discuss giving funding for the MRG at the Committee of the Whole meeting next week.
Willard officials will also present to Rantoul City Council and Champaign City Council asking for MRG funding Tuesday night.
