United Airlines and
American Airlines plan to add additional flights to
Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, and to use larger aircraft, to accommodate the influx of travelers heading to Milwaukee next month for the Republican National Convention.
Boosted by the RNC traffic, the airport is expecting to service 1.7 million travelers this summer according to the Mitchell International airport director Brian Dranzik.
The airport expects peak arrival days for the RNC to be between Saturday, July 13th, and Monday, July 15th. The peak departure dates will occur on the following weekend.
“While the airport will be busy, we can easily handle the extra volume, in fact, we are expecting the passenger count to be similar to what we see during spring break week,” said Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley.
On the peak arrival days leading up to the convention United Airlines will add eight non-stop roundtrip flights from Washington-Dulles (IAS), two from Washington-National (DCA), and two from Denver (DEN). American Airlines will add a nonstop roundtrip flight from New York LaGuardia (LGA). Similar schedules will be in place for departing flights on Friday, July 19, after the convention ends.
In addition, larger aircraft will be used on some flights for peak RNC arrival and departure days.
United will upgrade aircraft from regional jets to full-size mainline aircraft for some flights to Milwaukee from Newark and for some from Chicago to accommodate additional passengers connecting in those cities. American will use larger aircraft for its existing Milwaukee to Washington D.C. service.
Other air service additions this summer at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport this summer, not related to the RNC, include
Frontier Airlines adding nonstop flights to Raleigh-Durham and Philadelphia in May,
Spirt Airlines beginning new nonstop service from Milwaukee to Dallas-Fort Worth in July,
Alaska Airlines increasing its service to Seattle to twice-daily and
JetBlue increasing its daily Boston flights to a larger aircraft.
“I am extremely confident that RNC attendees will have an outstanding experience as they arrive at Milwaukee Mitchell International, enjoy everything that we offer in Milwaukee, contribute to our national economy, and fly out from MKE on their way home,” Crowley said.
