Restoring daily Chicago, Illinois, connections and adding new Florida routes have boosted Evansville Regional Airport’s traffic to nearly pre-pandemic levels.
COVID-19’s arrival in late 2019 and early 2020 set back airports across the globe, and smaller ones have been even slower to recover. EVV, though, is making headway.
Through Nov. 30, 2024, the airport had seen 175,875 passenger departures for the year and roughly the same number of arrivals. That’s a 13.5 percent increase from 2023’s pace.
Traffic in the month of November was more than 90 percent of the passenger load EVV hauled during the same month of 2019, which was a banner year for the airport.
“We are close to being right back where we were,” says Leslie Fella, EVV director of marketing and air service.
American Airlines brought back twice-daily flights to and from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in September 2024, and Fella says the 50-seat flights have performed well thus far. The airline had suspended its Evansville-Chicago route in March 2022; that action, coupled with United Airlines completely pulling its Evansville-Chicago service two months prior, had left EVV without a northern connection for 2.5 years.
Nondaily connections to Florida destinations also are proving popular for area travelers.
Allegiant Air in June 2024 added twice-a-week connections with St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport, joining its existing service to Orlando-Sanford International Airport and its seasonal Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport flights.
The preceding February, Utah-based Breeze Airways entered the Evansville market with twice-weekly connections to Orlando International Airport.
With all that expanded service, EVV in October boarded 19,247 passengers, up nearly 17 percent from the same month in 2023. November saw 17,191 departures, a year-over-year jump of 21 percent.
Along the way, Fella says American Airlines is setting records for its own EVV traffic, including its busiest month on record in October 2024 and its busiest single day on record in December 2024.
Of note, Fella says EVV’s new and restored service has not caused slippage in daily routes to Charlotte, North Carolina, and Dallas, Texas, via American and to Atlanta, Georgia, on Delta Air Lines.
In fact, American has upped its daily Charlotte connections from two to three.
“We are not cannibalizing existing loads,” Fella says. “They are just as strong as we have added all of this new capacity.”
As for what’s coming in 2025, Fella says EVV remains in contact with airlines about potential new air service. The airport’s connection to Detroit, Michigan, was suspended by Delta in March 2022 and has not returned.
“Delta has all the data we do,” Fella says. “They are always watching and evaluating passenger demand. Several things have to align (to restore the flight). They are always looking to see what is that next thing based on where passengers are flying — is it more Atlanta flights, is it Detroit, is it another hub.”
In addition to adding air service, EVV also prioritizes retaining routes it already has. Fella says that requires travelers to book flights from the local airport, and current trends are encouraging.
“We are grateful the Tri-State has embraced this new air service,” she says.
