QCIA urges business leaders to get on board new Charlotte flight

Quad Citians can begin booking daily “game changing” direct flights from the Quad Cities International Airport (QCIA) to Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday, July 15. And QCIA and community leaders who championed a long-awaited new connection with the Moline airport (MLI) are urging business leaders to take advantage of the new twice-daily American Airlines flights […]

Quad Citians can begin booking daily “game changing” direct flights from the Quad Cities International Airport (QCIA) to Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday, July 15. And QCIA and community leaders who championed a long-awaited new connection with the Moline airport (MLI) are urging business leaders to take advantage of the new twice-daily American Airlines flights to ensure the future of the hard-won service set to take flight on Dec. 20. The latter was a critical part of the message delivered Thursday, July 13, at the QCIA’s cargo building to local media and community leaders. The celebration featured QCIA Executive Director Benjamin Leischner, Visit Quad Cities President & CEO Dave Herrell and Mara Downing, global brand manager for Deere & Co. “We’ve been fighting for more air service during and post-pandemic, using all the tools in our toolbox to advocate for the Quad Cities,” Mr. Leischner said.  “So we encourage you to log in and start planning that next trip and book through Charlotte.”  The new service to Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) will be delivered aboard a CRJ-900, 76-seat, dual-class cabin jet.  Morning flights will depart at 6:50 a.m. Central Time and arrive at Charlotte at about 10 a.m. Eastern Time. Afternoon flights will depart MLI at 4:30 p.m. and arrive in CLT at 7:40 p.m. (ET).  These strategic time slots will allow Quad Cities travelers to access Charlotte’s expansive connections, according to airport leaders.  The Charlotte airport is the 19th largest in the world and is served by eight major carriers, 15 regional carriers and three foreign flag carriers. It also provides service to 178 domestic and international destinations. “Charlotte was at the top of our list as the most logical and sustainable route to meet the needs of our business travelers looking to travel up and down the east coast, as well as leisure travelers looking for convenient service to Florida, Mexico and the Caribbean,” Mr. Leischner said at the news conference.

He credited the Quad Cities for the win and, in particular, the QC business community led by Moline-based Deere & Co., whose leaders worked with the local airport to collect the data that helped win the long-sought global connection. “Our business community rallying behind the airport this past year has made all the difference,” Mr.  Leischner said. “It’s up to us now to show American that their faith in our market was not misplaced and leverage all that Charlotte has to offer in the way of destinations and global connectivity.” He added, “This route is highly sought after for the connectivity it offers through One World Alliance and American’s extensive route network.” At the Thursday event, Ms. Downing, John Deere’s vice president of global brand and communications, called the new destination a “significant milestone for the Quad Cities region’s progress.” “Connections are vital to the health and prosperity of any region and we saw that last week,” the John Deere leader told the crowd four days after the Quad Cities – and title sponsor John Deere – hosted its annual signature PGA Tour stop. “You know when I think about the hundreds of thousands of guests that John Deere brings to the region every year, whether it’s for the John Deere Classic, whether it is customers going on a gold key tour at one of our factories … This new direct flight is going to make travel easier for them and ideally will be able to bring more visitors to the region,” Ms. Downing added. “From an economic standpoint, the introduction of the Charlotte flight is game changing,” she said. “I firmly believe this will attract a myriad of opportunities for our region. It will attract new business, it will retain business, it will attract new entrepreneurs, investors and talent to our region, she said.  “For the many John Deere employees who travel frequently to and from the Quad Cities for our facilities in North Carolina we’re thrilled to have this convenience,” she added.

Optimal flight schedule

Rock Island Mayor Mike Thoms, a frequent flier from the Moline airport, told the QCBJ, “It’s exciting. We need some more service out of here – different directions, different gateways. I’m very excited to see it happen. I use the airport on a regular basis and I head to the East Coast, so it really works well for me personally.” He also praised the timing of the new flights. Unlike the ill-fated, former QCIA to Washington, D.C., routes, which were at inopportune times for many travelers, he said, the Charlotte flights are “twice a day, and appear to be at great times. If you want to go down for a day and do that business meeting in the morning, you can do that, or you can stay overnight and take the afternoon flight.” Charlotte also gives QC travelers more than one option when they’re booking to major hubs because both American Airlines and United Airlines will continue to fly to Chicago out of MLI.  For American, the Charlotte flights represent a third destination to and from the QCIA. “American Airlines is excited to offer new nonstop service between Quad Cities International Airport and Charlotte Douglas International Airport starting this December,” Philippe Puech, the airline’s director of short-haul network planning, said in a news release. “With service to three destinations from MLI, American is delighted to offer local residents the most convenient access to our global network.”

Years in the making

“Nearly every U.S. airport asks airlines for more services,” Mr. Leischner said. “But communities that can come together and rally behind their airport and show support for more air service capture the airline’s attention.” The Quad Cities has been working to add destinations since well before Mr. Leischner arrived at the QCIA in 2018. The effort picked up speed in 2019 after the QCIA airport board’s hired Campbell-Hill Aviation Group, a consultant specializing in air service development.  The consultant tracked data about Quad Cities travelers and the region’s economics, which staff used when traveling to air service conferences across the country, where they also got feedback from airlines about what they were looking for in new stops. “We’ve refined our approach over the past couple of years to meet airlines’ evolving needs,” Mr. Leischner said. “The pandemic upended the industry and we had to explore how we could better demonstrate that the Quad Cities can support more air service. “That’s when we started engaging different business leaders to get as deep an understanding as possible about their travel needs, expansion plans and recruitment, and how to tell that story in a compelling way to airline planners who are hearing from every airport in the nation about needing more service,” he added. Deere & Co.’s extensive travel to the Southeast also was a major tipping point in demonstrating need to American Airlines, from Charlotte to Raleigh-Durham, Greensboro and Orlando.  Visit QC’s Mr. Herrell was among the leaders who challenged Quad Citians to protect what he called “a big win for the region and a catalyst for growth.” “For Quad Citizens, it is imperative that we have the business community, the public sector and individual community members doing what we can to drive demand for your airport,” he said. “We must be aligned in this endeavor if we are to achieve our community’s goals.”

Community effort 

Helping that effort along will be a group of Quad Cities leaders whose mission has been to protect what the community won in Charlotte. That informal committee of advisors has evolved into a more permanent and organized entity called Quad Cities Destination, Inc., Mr. Leischner told the QCBJ. 

Similarly, leaders at Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids just announced the successful addition of a new American Airlines weekly flight. Mr. Leischner said the new Quad Cities Group will operate under the Visit QC umbrella, and in addition to serving as a sounding board for what businesses really need in air travel, members will promote financial pledges and incentives that can help keep the service going.  Active business community involvement is critical to the effort’s success, said Ashleigh Davis, the QCIA’s public relations and marketing manager told the QCBJ, because business travel is more predictable and provides airlines with a far more reliable measure of ridership when they are looking for routes – and deciding whether to keep them – year-round.   The entire community also will need to climb aboard the new flights, Mr. Leischner added. “People in this room and in our community, colleagues and business development travel planners, on the road and in the skies, have a much greater impact than anything the airport could put together in a 20-minute pitch deck,” he said. “It’s the collective work of our region that speaks volumes and gives us the data and storytelling to show why the Quad Cities is worth investing in.” Now that the new destination has been won, “our work does not stop there,” he told the crowd. “We have a job to do. We need to consistently fill those planes and build on this momentum. Air service is a community effort and today’s announcement is proof of just that,” he added.