The passenger pace is picking up at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport and taking that direct flight out of Chicago versus Milwaukee may not always be the best option.
"The more that people think about using their hometown option, like Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, the more traffic will stimulate so that will help bring those future direct flights and more flights," said Brian Dranzik, Airport Director for Milwaukee County.
Dranzik was @TheTable to talk about how the airport has bounced back since the pandemic and the airline choices travelers have in Milwaukee.
Southwest and Delta are the two largest airlines in Milwaukee with about 10 others serving southeastern Wisconsin. The Chicago market has O'Hare International and Midway as two major airport competitors.
Dranzik said, "So sometimes, folks look at just the cost of the ticket, but you're going to put in the overall cost of the travel time, the parking, just the time expense of making that trip down to Chicago, either O'Hare or Midway and calculate that all in cost. And many times, when you do that you will see Milwaukee as the cheaper option."
Before the pandemic, the total number of passengers in Milwaukee in 2019 was just shy of 6.9 million travelers. This year it's expected to climb above 6 million travelers.
"We've had a really good summer, outpacing last year. There are some constraints within the industry that are holding us back," said Dranzik. "It's not for lack of demand the demand here in the region is strong. I think we're doing really well, hopefully, we get back to that near seven (million) number next year."
Watch the full conversation in the video at the top of this article.
Charles Benson and Shannon Sims interview key people in our community during TMJ4's @TheTable segment weeknights at 10 p.m.
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