SOUTHERN ILLINOIS AIRPORT
More essential than you may think
Quick: Name the three busiest airports in Illinois!
O’Hare and Midway, you got those right.
But, no, it’s not Springfield, Moline, Peoria or Rockford. It’s Southern Illinois Airport in Murphysboro.
How could that be?
Two thousand flights a day — most of those aviation students at Southern Illinois University learning to take off and land.
More than 600 students study aviation, maintenance and management at the Glenn Poshard Transportation Education Center, named for SIU’s former President. Another 400 students study automotive technology.
The school has 46 aircraft on hand for the students to use to get comfortable with flying.
Commercial airlines such as United and other international carriers send their planes here to be serviced, offering training opportunities for the SIU students studying aircraft maintenance.
And there’s another kind of “flight” you can enjoy at Southern Illinois Airport: The airport also boasts the only working brewery at a general aviation — as opposed to commercial air transport — airport in the country.
St. Nicholas Brewing Co. introduced its “Wheelz Up” IPA, brewed on-site at the airport to good reviews.
The airport’s hangars host weddings, proms, political and chamber of commerce events.
An air ambulance with a crew of four is always on standby here.
Southern Illinois Airport was the Illinois Department of Transportation’s 2021 General Aviation Airport of the Year.
