MOLINE, ILLINOIS (July 14, 2023) — American Airlines will offer twice-daily service from Quad Cities International Airport to Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT). Booking will be available starting July 15, and the inaugural flight will be December 21, 2023. Service will be provided on a CRJ-900, 76-seat, dual-class cabin jet.
“This is a big win for the Quad Cities region,” said Dave Herrell, President and CEO, Visit Quad Cities. “Increasing air service and improving connectivity year-round for business and leisure travel continues to be an important strategic priority for our destination and community. We are thrilled and grateful for the strong partnership with the American Airlines team and look forward to that inaugural flight to Charlotte Douglas International Airport in December. Our Quad Cities International Airport is an economic development engine for the region, and it is imperative that we drive increased demand to be competitively positioned for the future.”
The morning flights will depart 6:50AM CT and arrive at CLT at approximately 10AM ET. The afternoon flight will depart at 4:30PM and arrive in CLT at 7:40PM ET. These strategic time slots will allow Quad-Cities travelers to access Charlotte’s expansive connections.
“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,” said Executive Director Benjamin Leischner AAE, Quad Cities International Airport. “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.”
In late 2019, QC Airport hired Campbell-Hill Aviation Group as a consultant specializing in air-service development. Throughout the pandemic, airport staff engaged airline planners to keep a pulse on recovery plans. In 2021, airport staff resumed traveling to air-service conferences across the country, sharing important data about Quad-Cities travelers and the region’s economics, and getting feedback from airlines on what they were looking for.
“We’ve refined our approach over the past couple of years to meet airlines’ evolving needs,” said Leischner. “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.”
Deere and Company’s extensive travel to the southeast was a major tipping point in demonstrating need to American Airlines, from Charlotte to Raleigh-Durham, Greensboro and Orlando. Business travel is a key component to air service because of its consistency. While leisure travel will always be valuable, it’s harder to measure because people may vacation several times a year, or only once every few years, and destinations vary widely. Business travel is more predictable and provides a measure of reliability to airlines who are looking for routes that will be successful year-round.
“Our business community rallying behind the airport this past year has made all the difference,” said Leischner. “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.”
Charlotte Douglas International Airport is among the world’s busiest airports and is served by eight major carriers, fifteen regional carriers, and three foreign flag-carriers with service to 178 domestic and international destinations.
