The long, cold, nasty winter had one positive side effect: more people got on flights out of Rhinelander for warmer places.
That assessment about passenger boarding for the first quarter of 2014 from Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport manager Joe Brauer...
"...actually our passenger enplanements are looking good. We're probably up about 20 percent as far as departures out of here, and we're up about 10 percent for people deplaning here at the airport...."
Brauer has a suspicion as to why the numbers were up in the bitter cold season...
"...as I've watched this over the years, when we have kind of a harsh winter like this year we've seen our enplanements go up. People get 'cabin fever'. People take one trip and with it being so harsh this year, you see them take two mini-vacations, and maybe three.... we've seen the terminal pretty full of passengers trying to get to some warm weather places...."
Brauer says he continues to hear good things about the Delta Connection flights to the Twin Cities which resumed in January of 2013.
