University of Illinois Willard Airport
Encyclopedia
University of Illinois Willard Airport is an airport
owned and operated by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
located south of Savoy
in Tolono Township, Champaign County, Illinois
. It serves the greater Champaign-Urbana Metropolitan Area
in East Central Illinois. Willard Airport is named for former University of Illinois president Arthur Cutts Willard
, and home to the University of Illinois Institute of Aviation
, which is a major research facility at the university.
Recently, the airport has faced several challenges in terms of its competitiveness. No international flights are offered due to the lack of U.S. immigration and customs facilities. The additional price airlines charge to fly to regional airports compared to a major hub like Chicago's O'Hare International Airport
often encourages budget-minded travelers to use surface transport to reach Champaign County instead. Major airlines have chosen to serve Central Illinois only via the Central Illinois Regional Airport
in Bloomington-Normal
instead. Finally, with the University of Illinois Institute of Aviation
scheduled to close in 2014, the number of flights at the airport will drastically decrease, which could lower Willard's importance in the region as well as the amount of FAA funding it receives.
of 1978, however, many airlines found service to a regional airport to be inefficient, the price differential to airfares from major hub airports such as Chicago O'Hare grew, which limited the growth of demand for tickets from Willard, lowered the market share within the state, and caused airlines to discontinue service in the ensuing decades.
Willard Airport received its 15 minutes of fame
on January 28, 1998. President
Bill Clinton
was in Champaign-Urbana for a speaking engagement at Assembly Hall
and arrived at Willard Airport on Air Force One
. Due to the breaking story, news media
descended on Champaign-Urbana. After the engagement, just prior to takeoff
, the Boeing 707
acting as Air Force One got stuck in the mud, the taxiway not being designed for aircraft as wide as the Boeing 707. After about an hour of being stuck, a backup Air Force One descended upon Willard Airport. The backup was SAM26000
, which was the same 707 that took John Kennedy to Dallas. The trip on SAM26000 marked the last time it carried a sitting president. Several months later it was retired to the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson. Many news broadcasts that evening carried live video feed of the Presidential aircraft stuck at Willard Airport.
s:
The terminal is made of five gates, numbers 1 through 5.
- jets, and six daily (five on weekends) flights to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport
on 50-seat ERJs.
Delta Air Lines
ceased service to Willard Airport on August 31, 2010.
, which connect with intercity buses and with Amtrak
. Several car rental
agencies have offices in the terminal building. The airport is reached from U.S. Route 45
, five miles south of downtown Champaign. The nearest expressway exit is Exit 229 (Monticello Road) on Interstate 57
, about a four mile drive west-southwest from the terminal building. In addition to the curbside loading zone and the rental car parking lot, parking facilities include a paid parking lot ($5/day).
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
owned and operated by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
located south of Savoy
Savoy, Illinois
Savoy is a village in Champaign County, Illinois, United States, and a suburb of the city of Champaign, Illinois. The population was 7,280 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Savoy is located at ....
in Tolono Township, Champaign County, Illinois
Tolono Township, Champaign County, Illinois
Tolono Township is a township in Champaign County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2000 census, its population was 3,757.-Geography:Tolono Township covers an area of ; of this, or 0.07 percent is water...
. It serves the greater Champaign-Urbana Metropolitan Area
Champaign-Urbana Metropolitan Area
The Champaign-Urbana metropolitan area, also known as Champaign-Urbana, is a metropolitan area in east-central Illinois. It is the 191st largest metropolitan area in the U.S. It is composed of three counties, Champaign, Ford, and Piatt...
in East Central Illinois. Willard Airport is named for former University of Illinois president Arthur Cutts Willard
Arthur Cutts Willard
Arthur Cutts Willard was the ninth president of the University of Illinois and an innovator in the field of heating and ventilation. Known for being approachable, a gentleman and well-dressed; he was known and admired by many...
, and home to the University of Illinois Institute of Aviation
University of Illinois Institute of Aviation
The University of Illinois Institute of Aviation is an aviation institute affiliated with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Founded in 1946, it is located at the university-owned Willard Airport in Savoy, Illinois...
, which is a major research facility at the university.
Recently, the airport has faced several challenges in terms of its competitiveness. No international flights are offered due to the lack of U.S. immigration and customs facilities. The additional price airlines charge to fly to regional airports compared to a major hub like Chicago's O'Hare International Airport
O'Hare International Airport
Chicago O'Hare International Airport , also known as O'Hare Airport, O'Hare Field, Chicago Airport, Chicago International Airport, or simply O'Hare, is a major airport located in the northwestern-most corner of Chicago, Illinois, United States, northwest of the Chicago Loop...
often encourages budget-minded travelers to use surface transport to reach Champaign County instead. Major airlines have chosen to serve Central Illinois only via the Central Illinois Regional Airport
Central Illinois Regional Airport
Central Illinois Regional Airport at Bloomington-Normal is a public use airport located three nautical miles east of the central business district of the city of Bloomington and southeast of the town of Normal, in McLean County, Illinois, United States. It is owned by the Bloomington-Normal...
in Bloomington-Normal
Bloomington-Normal, Illinois
Bloomington-Normal refers to the twin municipalities of Bloomington and Normal in McLean County, in Central Illinois. The combined population of the two communities in a special census in 2006 was 125,000.-Sports:...
instead. Finally, with the University of Illinois Institute of Aviation
University of Illinois Institute of Aviation
The University of Illinois Institute of Aviation is an aviation institute affiliated with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Founded in 1946, it is located at the university-owned Willard Airport in Savoy, Illinois...
scheduled to close in 2014, the number of flights at the airport will drastically decrease, which could lower Willard's importance in the region as well as the amount of FAA funding it receives.
History
The airport was dedicated on 26 October 1945. The first scheduled commercial flights began in 1954. The terminal building constructed in 1960 was used until the present terminal was completed in 1987. By 1969, Willard had become the second-busiest airport in the state of Illinois. After the Airline Deregulation ActAirline Deregulation Act
The Airline Deregulation Act is a United States federal law signed into law on October 24, 1978. The main purpose of the act was to remove government control over fares, routes and market entry from commercial aviation...
of 1978, however, many airlines found service to a regional airport to be inefficient, the price differential to airfares from major hub airports such as Chicago O'Hare grew, which limited the growth of demand for tickets from Willard, lowered the market share within the state, and caused airlines to discontinue service in the ensuing decades.
Willard Airport received its 15 minutes of fame
15 minutes of fame
15 minutes of fame is short-lived, often ephemeral, media publicity or celebrity of an individual or phenomenon. The expression was coined by Andy Warhol, who said in 1968 that "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." The phenomenon is often used in reference to...
on January 28, 1998. President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
was in Champaign-Urbana for a speaking engagement at Assembly Hall
Assembly Hall (Champaign)
Assembly Hall is a large dome-shaped indoor arena, located in Champaign, Illinois, and is part of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign....
and arrived at Willard Airport on Air Force One
Air Force One
Air Force One is the official air traffic control call sign of any United States Air Force aircraft carrying the President of the United States. In common parlance the term refers to those Air Force aircraft whose primary mission is to transport the president; however, any U.S. Air Force aircraft...
. Due to the breaking story, news media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
descended on Champaign-Urbana. After the engagement, just prior to takeoff
Takeoff
Takeoff is the phase of flight in which an aerospace vehicle goes from the ground to flying in the air.For horizontal takeoff aircraft this usually involves starting with a transition from moving along the ground on a runway. For balloons, helicopters and some specialized fixed-wing aircraft , no...
, the Boeing 707
Boeing 707
The Boeing 707 is a four-engine narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly pronounced as "Seven Oh Seven". The first airline to operate the 707 was Pan American World Airways, inaugurating the type's first commercial flight on...
acting as Air Force One got stuck in the mud, the taxiway not being designed for aircraft as wide as the Boeing 707. After about an hour of being stuck, a backup Air Force One descended upon Willard Airport. The backup was SAM26000
VC-137C SAM 26000
SAM 26000 was the first of two Boeing VC-137C United States Air Force aircraft specifically configured and maintained for use by the President of the United States. It used the callsign Air Force One when the President was on board, SAM 26000 otherwise.A VC-137C serial number 62-6000, SAM 26000 was...
, which was the same 707 that took John Kennedy to Dallas. The trip on SAM26000 marked the last time it carried a sitting president. Several months later it was retired to the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson. Many news broadcasts that evening carried live video feed of the Presidential aircraft stuck at Willard Airport.
Facilities
Willard Airport covers 1799 acres (728 ha) and has four runwayRunway
According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...
s:
- Runway 4/22: 6,500 x 150 ft. (1,981 x 46 m), Surface: ConcreteConcreteConcrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
- Runway 14L/32R: 8,100 x 150 ft. (2,469 x 46 m), Surface: Concrete, ILSInstrument Landing SystemAn instrument landing system is a ground-based instrument approach system that provides precision guidance to an aircraft approaching and landing on a runway, using a combination of radio signals and, in many cases, high-intensity lighting arrays to enable a safe landing during instrument...
equipped. - Runway 14R/32L: 3,817 x 75 ft. (1,163 x 23 m), Surface: AsphaltAsphaltAsphalt or , also known as bitumen, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits, it is a substance classed as a pitch...
- Runway 18/36: 5,299 x 150 ft. (1,615 x 46 m), Surface: Concrete
The terminal is made of five gates, numbers 1 through 5.
Airlines and destinations
Currently, American Eagle operates one daily flight to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on 50-seat ERJEmbraer ERJ 145 family
The Embraer ERJ 145 family is a series of regional jets produced by Embraer, a Brazilian aerospace company. Family members include the ERJ 135 , ERJ 140 , and ERJ 145 , as well as the Legacy business jet and the R-99 family of military aircraft. The ERJ 145 is the largest of the group...
- jets, and six daily (five on weekends) flights to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport
O'Hare International Airport
Chicago O'Hare International Airport , also known as O'Hare Airport, O'Hare Field, Chicago Airport, Chicago International Airport, or simply O'Hare, is a major airport located in the northwestern-most corner of Chicago, Illinois, United States, northwest of the Chicago Loop...
on 50-seat ERJs.
Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a major airline based in the United States and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline operates an extensive domestic and international network serving all continents except Antarctica. Delta and its subsidiaries operate over 4,000 flights every day...
ceased service to Willard Airport on August 31, 2010.
Ground transportation
The airport is served by buses from the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit DistrictChampaign-Urbana Mass Transit District
The Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District is a mass transit system that is part of the Champaign-Urbana Metropolitan Area in which property taxes are levied to support a local transit system operating buses and the Illinois Terminal intermodal facility in downtown Champaign...
, which connect with intercity buses and with Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
. Several car rental
Car rental
A car rental or car hire agency is a company that rents automobiles for short periods of time for a fee...
agencies have offices in the terminal building. The airport is reached from U.S. Route 45
U.S. Route 45
U.S. Route 45 is a north–south United States highway. US 45 is a border-to-border route, from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico. A sign at the highway's northern terminus notes the total distance as ....
, five miles south of downtown Champaign. The nearest expressway exit is Exit 229 (Monticello Road) on Interstate 57
Interstate 57
Interstate 57 is an Interstate Highway in Missouri and Illinois that parallels the old Illinois Central rail line for much of its route. It goes from Miner, Missouri, at Interstate 55 to Chicago, Illinois, at Interstate 94. I-57 essentially serves as a shortcut route for travelers headed between...
, about a four mile drive west-southwest from the terminal building. In addition to the curbside loading zone and the rental car parking lot, parking facilities include a paid parking lot ($5/day).
External links
- Willard Airport, official website