General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport is a civil/military public airport five miles west of Peoria, in Peoria County, Illinois. The airport is on the northwest edge of Bartonville, near Bellevue. It is owned by the Metropolitan Airport Authority of Peoria, which often refers to it as Peoria International Airport. It was formerly the Greater Peoria Regional Airport.
This airport is in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which called it a primary commercial service airport (more than 10,000 enplanements per year). As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 278,426 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008,[9] 242,142 in 2009 and 249,595 in 2010.
GREATER PEORIA REGIONAL AIRPORT HISTORY
On May 19, 1932 the citizens of Peoria voted to have an airport. On 195 acres (0.8 km²), American Airways (now American Airlines) and Chicago and Southern Airlines brought in airmail and passenger service on 4 shale-surfaced runways. The land was purchased by 261 Peoria businessmen who formed the Peoria Airport, Inc. It was turned over to the Peoria Park District in 1937, and then to newly-formed The Metropolitan Airport Authority of Peoria in 1950.
On April 25, 2007 the Greater Peoria Airport Authority announced a new 9 gate terminal will be built and the older terminal would be demolished. On October 10, 2008, the airport was renamed “General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport” during a groundbreaking ceremony attended by Ross Perot, friend of the late Wayne A. Downing The new terminal, designed by Reynolds, Smith & Hills and built by Turner Construction, opened on April 27, 2011. As of August 24, 2012 the airport was in negotiations for international flights using a temporary customs facility.
GREATER PEORIA REGIONAL AIRPORT LOCATION
GREATER PEORIA REGIONAL AIRPORT FACTS
ICAO/IATA: KPIA/PIA
Lat: 40°39′51″N
Long: 089°41′36″WCoordinates
Elevation: 661 ft.
Runway length available: 04/22 8003×150 ft. :: 13/31 10104×150 ft.
