What if you couldn’t get there from here? In Evansville, getting to Chicago or Detroit by air can be difficult, and you can blame the airline pilot shortage and what the airlines call “limited resources”, blamed on the pandemic.
United stopped its direct flight from Chicago to Evansville Regional Airport in January. American Airline paused its service in arch and Delta has stopped its direct flight between Evansville and Detroit.
“It’s been really devastating for a lot of our corporate citizens who need to get vendors and customers to Evansville. They’re consequently they’re having to fly through Charlotte, Atlanta or Dallas, which are all great connections, but it does pose a challenge,” said Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke, on Inside Indiana Business.
“Luckily, the state has been a really good partner in trying to get the airlines to get those flights restored sooner rather than later.”
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. has been looking into how they can help.
Winnecke is staying positive about getting the flights back.
“They’ve told us they’re not walking away forever. They’re walking away for now,” he said.
He said American has added a daily flight from Evansville to Dallas, amounting to three per day. He said Delta is using larger aircraft on their daily flights to Atlanta.
Winnecke said Evansville’s is a good airport. To him, that’s not in question.
“We know we’re a good hub. But, because of the pilot shortage and aircraft shortage, it’s an issue right now.”
