University of Illinois Willard Airport
| University of Illinois Willard Airport |
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||||||
| Operator | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | ||||||||||||||||||
| Serves | Champaign-Urbana, Illinois | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Tolono Township, Illinois | ||||||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 754 ft / 230 m | ||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 40°02′21″N 88°16′41″W / 40.03917°N 88.27806°WCoordinates: 40°02′21″N 88°16′41″W / 40.03917°N 88.27806°W | ||||||||||||||||||
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 Location of Champaign County in Illinois |
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 CMI
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Source: Federal Aviation Administration
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University of Illinois Willard Airport (IATA: CMI, ICAO: KCMI, FAA LID: CMI) is south of Savoy in Tolono Township, Champaign County, Illinois. It is owned and operated by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is named for former University of Illinois president Arthur Cutts Willard.
The airport was dedicated on 26 October 1945. Airline flights began in 1954. The terminal building built in 1960 was used until the present terminal was completed in 1987. By 1969 Willard was the second-busiest airport in the state of Illinois. After the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 many airlines found service to small airports to be inefficient, the price differential to airfares from major hub airports such as Chicago O'Hare grew, which limited demand for tickets from Willard and caused airlines to leave.
Until 2014, the airport was home to the University of Illinois Institute of Aviation, a research and pilot training facility. The university trustees voted to shutter the institute in 2011 while allowing enrolled students to complete their studies. In 2013, the university agreed to transfer the pilot training function of the institute to Parkland College, a local community college. The university continues to operate the airport and provides an annual subsidy of $433,000 for its operations.
Traffic at Willard airport declined significantly from 2005 to 2013. According to FAA published data, in CY2013 there were 84,853 passenger enplanements compared to 132,077 in 2005. Overall traffic also declined to 54,653 total Combined TRACON / Tower operations in CY 2013 compared to 123,341 in CY2005.
The airport has had various problems with delays recently. In 2013, the airport ranked 285th out of 320 airports for on-time performance according to government statistics and was ranked 251st out of 324 airports for the first 11 months of 2014.
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