Oh... The Indignity! Hooters Air to Cancel Service From the Greater Rockford Airport

Years ago, the mild-mannered metropolis of Rockford, IL, was rocked by the loss of the (then) burgeoning annual EAA Fly-In -- who subsequently packed up and headed off to the (then) Wisconsin wilderness known as Oshkosh. It's taken years for the city to get over it, but progress WAS being made... and in the intervening decades, things had finally returned to normal -- until recently.

Yes... the city that survived the loss of the EAA Fly-In is now forced to contend with the loss of (dramatic pause) Hooters Air.

Hooters Air has announced that it will be reducing service from the Greater Rockford Airport in Rockford, Illinois and end service effective January 5, 2006. Increased costs and the recent announcement by the Rockford Airport Authority that it will provide $2.5 million in incentives and revenue guarantees to secure additional air service between Rockford and Denver to a Hooters Air competitor, has led to this difficult decision.

"With the current market conditions Hooters Air will shift some of our assets from Scheduled Service to Charter Service," said Hooters Air President Mark Peterson.

"It was not helpful that the Rockford Airport Authority provided revenue guarantees with public funds to a competing carrier on a route we have been operating."

FMI: www.hootersair.com