Evansville Chicago Flights Resume In September 2024 Exciting Evansville Community

Evansville Regional Airport (EVV) continues to have a strong spring season with the announcement of flights to Chicago on American Airlines. Chicago flights are resuming on September 4th with American Airlines operating under American Eagle The question is will these flights stick around?

Evansville Regional Airport hosted a media event April 12, 2024 announcing the resumption of flights to Chicago O’Hare starting September 4, 2024. The flight will be flown 2x daily, with a 50 seater CRJ-200 aircraft. At the time of writing the operator is unconfirmed, however, it is most probably Air Wisconsin an American Eagle regional affiliate. UPDATE:Air Wisconsin is the confirmed to be the operator. The flights will be available for booking starting on Monday April 15, 2024

The Evansville community has been lobbying the airlines to resume the Chicago O’Hare route for several months, the route was suspended in 2022 due to the pandemic. The route had been flown with a mix of ERJ 145 & CRJ-200. Occasionally American would send bigger aircraft such as the CRJ-700 & E175.

Evansville Regional Airport hosted a media event & celebration for the return of the flight.

Evansville City & Airport Officials handing a key of the city to American Airlines celebrating the Chicago flight announcement

Several officials & business leaders gave speeches throughout the event showing support for the new flight.

Nick Hahn Executive Director of Evansville Regional Airport (EVV):

“Air service does not happen in a vacuum, it takes a lot of teamwork, effort, & time. It takes strong community support from our elected leaders, business leaders, state leaders, it takes dedicated passengers that choose to fly EVV first.”

Through Evansville’s FlyEVV first campaign multiple business including Old National Bank, headquartered In Evansville with significant business operations in Chicago and around the midwest, has committed to flying EVV first. CEO of Old National Bank (ONB), Jim Ryan:

“Without a strong airport, you cannot have a strong regional economy. We are very grateful for (the entire EVV airport team) for this air service to return. The non-stop flights to chicago is a community asset, not just for business, but for individual & families, those that make those trips every single day and for the opportunity to actually get home the same day that opportunity is absolutely phenomenal. As somebody who as awful lot of operations in Chicago, this will certainly help our team members. I’m committed to FlyEVV, we all should be committed to flying EVV.” – Jim Ryan ONB CEO

Evansville Regional Airport celebrated the announcement with a display of the Chicago skyline , Garrett Popcorn (a chicago staple), & sunglasses.

Chicago skyline display

Garrett Popcorn famous from Chicago

Sunglasses were provided to attendees at the event.

The flight schedule is shown below:

UPDATED June 2024 to reflect flight schedule change

Flight Schedule	Route	Flight Number	Equipment	Frequency
5:50 am – 7:29 am	EVV – ORD	AA 6132	CRJ – 200 operated by Air Wisconsin	Daily
3:30 pm – 5:03 pm	EVV – ORD	AA 6098	CRJ – 200 operated by Air Wisconsin	Daily
1:30 pm – 2:43 pm	ORD – EVV	AA 6098	CRJ – 200 operated by Air Wisconsin	Daily
6:30 pm – 8:06 pm	ORD – EVV	AA 6134	CRJ – 200 operated by Air Wisconsin	Daily

The aircraft operating this route will be the CRJ – 200. Previously an ERJ – 145 operated the Chicago route.

American Eagle reintroduced the CRJ 200 upon signing a capacity agreement with Air Wisconsin.This particular American Eagle plane requires sky valet check of large carry on bags which may inconvenience some passengers. An Air Wisconsin CRJ-200 is shown below.

Aircraft Information

• Configured in a 2-2 layout
• 50 Economy Class seats
• 50 total seats

American Airlines has its own loyalty program called AAdvantage that allows flyers to book flights all over the country & world.

Much like airfare route mileage redemptions are going to vary, however, when this route was operating in 2021 redemptions were as low as 7.5K miles + 5.60 one way.

Unfortunately, American Airlines does not transfer to any of the major credit cards (Amex, Citi, & Chase). However one possible way to redeem points is through fellow one world member British Airways currency Avios. Avios has multiple transfer partners including Amex & Chase Ultimate Rewards that transfer at 1:1 ratio. Marriott Bonvoy points can be converted into AAdvantage miles at a less rewarding 2:1 ratio.

While airfare pricing varies with demand, different factors, and is often hard to predict. Previous airfare for this route can be anywhere from $80 – $600 one way. I would anticipate similar pricing which is concerning as Contour operates much cheaper flights out of Owensboro, KY to Chicago (Flight Review coming soon). However this route seems to be targeted at business travelers which should be able to support such high prices.

While I am very excited to see the Evansville Chicago flight route return I was expecting a more creative response from American, a flight to Miami from Evansville. In response to the growing number of flights from EVV to Florida. I am thankful to finally see this flight return even though it is on a CRJ-200. I find the CRJ-200 to be uncomfortable. However, I’ll take that instead of connecting through another airport such as Charlotte. I am told if the route does well we could see the ERJ-175 which features a first class cabin.

I often travel from Seattle to Evansville frequently so it’s nice to see this as a new option. As detailed in the upcoming flight review doing the Owensboro connection in ORD is not ideal. Follow Nerd Ka Travel Instagram for updates on new content.

I have high hopes this route will succeed in the long term, given the commitments from business community leaders. From the press event I got the impression that American sees business demand which tends to pay top dollar for fares. Old National Bank’s CEO mentioned as much when he mentioned using the new service as a day trip to Chicago from Evansville. Guessing based on fares from the last time the fight ran this will cost nearly $600+ per day trip. As detailed in the Contour review these flights should be able to coexist between the two airports. In fact, when flights to Florida first launched both Evansville & Owensboro had the same flights on alternate days. However to keep our regional flights we do need the support of every passenger to fly EVV. I almost always fly EVV for mostly for convenience and time even though it often costs a lot more than surrounding airports.

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