ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) – Hauling in almost 3.5 billion pounds of cargo last year, the Chicago Rockford International Airport ranks 14th on a list of the top cargo airports in the US by the Federal Aviation Administration.
That’s up three spots from 2020 when it brought in more than 2.5 billion pounds of grounded weight.
“This is the highest-ranking the airport has ever, ever received,” says RFD Deputy Director of Operations and Planning Zack Oakley. “It speaks to a lot of the hard workers, the local, not just the airport authority, but our partners on the field with our companies like Emery Air, Amazon, UPS.”
The aircrafts don’t just bring in cargo, they bring thousands of jobs adding up to more than $4.5 billion of economic growth across the region.
“A lot of those people they have experience at O’Hare. Being able to bring them out to Rockford and transition experience but also bring those people into the Rockford community to see that growth as well,” says Oakley.
“They keep a very low levy as far as the tax base for Winnebago county citizens and providing that much jobs those jobs are great jobs to have,” says Winnebago County Chairperson Joe Chiarelli.
RFD is also a strong hub for international flights and e-commerce, which took off during the pandemic.
“It really accelerated that growth and what we are seeing are more people are choosing to fly into Rockford international airport as opposed to flying into some of these major airports like O’Hare,” says Oakley.
“They’re seeing the ability to come into Rockford have their planes offloaded, and shipped out at a much higher speed,” says Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara.
Cargo comes to the airport from several countries around the world bringing in mail and high-value items including medical and manufacturing equipment.
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