When Edie Peterson shows her friends the scrapbook she assembled after a recent trip to Niagara Falls, they always ask one disbelieving question: “How long were you there?”
Her answer: less than a day.
When Peterson visited the falls in early July, she woke up in her own bed in Dixon, Ill., and slept in it that night. Along with her husband, two daughters and nearly 130 strangers, she flew to Niagara Falls for a 12-hour trip that a spokesman for Chicago Rockford International Airport said is fast becoming a regular feature. It began with that inaugural flight into Niagara Falls International Airport.
“Going for the day was just unbelievable,” said Peterson, a 49-year-old stay-at-home mom. “Seeing the falls and then being home that night in your own bed, that’s what’s so cool.”
Also cool, she said, was skipping the biggest hassles usually associated with travel: packing, booking hotel rooms and renting a car. When she went to Niagara Falls, all she brought was a small purse and a digital camera. Not even a jacket.
Airport Executive Director Bob O’Brien said he first envisioned such day trips as a marketing tool about 10 years ago, when he ran Springfield’s airport. His board of directors shot him down, he said.
In his fifth year at the helm of Rockford’s airport, his current board liked the idea.
The airport has since chartered such trips to Indianapolis, Mackinac Island, Mich. (by way of Pellston, Mich.), and a second spin to Niagara Falls. Round-trip airfare usually starts at about $150 (plus taxes and fees), and all but the Indianapolis trip sold out in less than 24 hours.
“I think the economy might be working to our advantage,” O’Brien said. “People can’t afford multiday trips, so they’re taking one-day trips.”
The airport charters the flights with Atlanta-based Southern Skyways, one of the three airlines that fly into and out of Rockford International, a small airport trying to distinguish itself in a region dominated by O’Hare, Midway, Milwaukee’s General Mitchell International and Dane County Regional in Madison, Wis.
Rockford’s airport makes no money on the venture and needs to sell out to break even, O’Brien said.
“The profit for us comes by these passengers discovering the airport,” he said, “and by the industry wondering what the hell we’re doing now — which is a good thing for us.”
O’Brien has basic standards when planning the trips: no flights longer than 90 minutes and destinations close to airports.
“No one wants to fly for an hour to ride a bus for two hours,” he said.
Upcoming day trips
* Mt. Rushmore (the most expensive so far at more than $300 round trip)
* Washington, D.C. (via Baltimore)
* Another Niagara Falls trip
For information, visit flyrfd.com. [TRIBUNE]
