EAU Plans More Parking to Handle Additional Passengers from Sun Country Flights

    Sept. 19, 2022

    By Andrew Dowd

    Source The Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, Wis. (TNS)

    Sep. 19—EAU CLAIRE — A new air carrier's arrival in Eau Claire with larger planes is prompting Chippewa Valley Regional Airport to expand its long-term parking.

    Sun Country Airlines is scheduled to begin regular flights at the local airport in December with jets seating up to 186 passengers — a sizable increase from the current carrier that uses 50-seat turboprop planes.

    "A new airline will start service with larger aircraft that will result in an additional 500 seats being available for sale each week from the airport," Charity Zich, airport director, stated in a letter to the city.

    Based on the additional supply of airline tickets and the experience of another airport, the current lot at parking Chippewa Valley Regional Airport isn't expected to be large enough when Sun Country begins serving Eau Claire.

    "Using parking calculations from another airport with similarly sized aircraft serving the market with similar frequency, we conservatively expect there to be a shortage of 60-90 long-term parking spaces during peak travel periods," Zich wrote.

    The airport is planning to expand its parking lot by about 26%. Part of that new paving would start as soon as this fall, according to plans submitted to the city.

    The airport intends to add 47,555 square feet of asphalt pavement — split into two phases — to the 129,130 square feet of parking already there.

    An additional 151 parking spaces — primarily long-term spots — will be added to the 424 parking stalls already in front of the airport terminal.

    The airport is seeking approval of the site plan for the parking lot addition during the 7 p.m. meeting of the Eau Claire Plan Commission today( Monday, Sept. 19) at City Hall, 203 S. Farwell St.

    A public hearing will be held during the meeting prior to the commission's vote.

    Zich noted in her letter that expanding the parking lot does fit in with a master plan for the airport that the Plan Commission signed off on in 2013.

    Sun Country is scheduled to begin serving the local airport on Dec. 1, taking over for SkyWest Airlines, which flies for United Airlines. Sun Country will have two weekly round-trip flights to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, plus an average of another two weekly flights to other airports, according to Sun Country's proposal for serving the airport. Those other destinations are Las Vegas, Orlando and Fort Myers, Fla., which will vary by season.

    From late November through April, the second plane will be headed to Fort Myers. That will switch to Orlando in May through August. Las Vegas will be the destination during October and most of November, based on the proposal.

    SkyWest, which is currently connecting Eau Claire with Chicago O'Hare International airport with one round-trip flight per day, will end its service here on Nov. 30, according to the local airport's website.

    Other business

    Also during tonight's( Monday, Sept. 19) Plan Commission meeting:

    —Amending Eau Claire's comprehensive plan to allow a mix of housing types on 215 acres of land along Highway II will be considered. Following the commission's recommendation, the comprehensive plan amendment will then to go to the City Council for a final vote. Plans to create a neighborhood on the land have drawn opposition from those living nearby and resulted in a lawsuit filed in July by the town of Washington against the City of Eau Claire.

    —Annexing 90 acres donated to the city in 2012 for a future park will be discussed by the commission before heading to the City Council later this month. Located outside of city limits currently, the property was given to Eau Claire with the aim of turning it into a park called Kyes Park.

    —A final site plan for the development of the future Country Jam site at the southwest corner of Highway T and 20th Avenue is set for a vote.

    —Site plans for new apartment buildings planned on the 3300 block of Birch Street and on a large tract of land south of the North Crossing are both slated for votes.

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