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Direct flights ending between the Quad Cities and Washington D.C.

Months after they began, direct flights between the Quad Cities and Washington D.C. will end.

Months after they began, direct flights between the Quad Cities and Washington D.C. will end.

The Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce reportedly contracted the 50-passenger flight as part of a deal with United Airlines, with federal and state funding backing the project.  The first flight took off in late October.

Now, airport officials say the service between the Quad City International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport will be discontinued.

"The decision to end service was due to low load factors which made the route financially unsustainable beyond the subsidized start-up phase," said a March 17, 2016 statement from the Metropolitan Airport Authority of Rock Island  County.

Former Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation in mid-2014 authorizing a $1.5 million grant for the project, every year for three years, as part of the Illinois Department of Transportation's I-FLY air carrier recruitment and retention grant.

Paul Rumler, Chief Economic Development Officer for the Quad Cities Chamber, previously said they hoped the flight would help secure the Rock Island Arsenal against future budget cuts and Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC).  Rumler said in October 2015 that 10,000 people were flying between the Quad Cities and airports in Washington D.C., and the chamber hoped the flight would boost local tourism.

State funding for the flight was removed from the 2015 fiscal year budget after Bruce Rauner became governor and put a freeze on all non-essential spending; the funding for the flight was also not part of the 2016 fiscal year budget for Illinois.

"We will work with community leaders on how to most effectively continue to grow air service for the Quad Cities,” said Bruce Carter, Director of Aviation. That may include continued work to expand existing service between the Quad Cities and Denver, and between the Quad Cities and Chicago O'Hare.

"Passenger air service between the Quad City International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport will be discontinued beginning June 9, 2016," the statement said.

 

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