NEW Manufacturing Insights, the official podcast of the Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance (NEWMA) and Insight on Manufacturing (IOM) magazine sponsored by Wintrust Commercial Banking at Town Bank, N.A., welcomed Jesse Funk, business development manager for Appleton International Airport, to this week’s podcast, chatting on the heels of this week’s announcement that ATW logged 100,800 enplaned and deplaned passengers in March 2024, making it the busiest month ever at the airport.
Funk told co-hosts Ann Franz and Kate Bruns about the history of the airport, which dates back to the 1920s, and also outlined the features of the airport’s current expansion project, which will bring several added amenities for passengers to the concourse.
“We’ve had double the passenger growth in the last 10 years, so we’re looking at more restaurant options, more space in general, more restaurant facilities,” Funk said.
While Funk says it has been more challenging since 2019 to identify the breakdown of business and leisure travel, especially as remote work has become more prevalent and blurred those lines, he estimates about 40% of the passengers at ATW are traveling for business today. The business/leisure breakdown was more like 60/40 before the pandemic, Funk says, but the reverse is not because business travel has dropped off — it has actually grown.
“The difference is that Allegiant [Airlines] has grown so much in the last four to five years, and we became a base for them in 2022,” Funk said, adding that Allegiant has rapidly added flights, three and sometimes four times a week, to destinations like Las Vegas, Orlando and Nashville, which are popular leisure travel destinations.
Get the whole story on this week’s episode, which you can listen to anywhere you get your podcast, or stream online here.
New episodes of NEW Manufacturing Insights are available every Thursday at www.spreaker.com/show/new-manufacturing-insights. Production support is provided by Woodward Community Media.
