WINONA, Minn. — Not since the early 1970s has Winona had commercial airline service. With LaCrosse and Rochester each less an bour away on Interstate 90, there was less and less need – especially with RST and LSE’s flight frequency, just about hourly much of day. That changed in an instant with the CoVid pandemic in 2020. Ridership tanked. Airlines severely cut back schedules. Although air travel largely has recovered nationally, not so at mid-market airports like Rochester and LaCrosse. Together the two airports combined today have only 10 flights a day, and only with cramped small-capacity regional planes, and only to two destinations. At best, aviation experts say, a turn-around at RST and LSE will be slow, albeit a recent 8% boarding increase in Rochester. Airlines remain short of pilots after waves of retirements. And with major quality issues at airplane manufacturer Boeing, airlines have backed off expanding their fleets.
Current flights
American: Rochester to Chicago (four daily): 5:51 a.m. 11:34 a.m., 5:31 p.m. and 7:07 p.m.
American: LaCrosse to Chicago (three daily): 6:02a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 2:53 p.m.
Delta: Rochester to Minneapolis (three daily): 5:20 a.m., 12:35 p.m. and 6:11 p.m.
Delta: LaCrosse to Minneapolis: None anymore.
Other airlines have come and gone from RST and LSE markets.. Among them: Frontier, Midwest, Mississippi Valley, North Central, Northwest, and Republic. And yes, Winona had direct service iced briefly from 1951 to 1952, 1969 to 1979, and in 1973.
North Central DC-3. On tarmac at Winona’s Max Conrad Field in an earlier era. Image: Winona Historical Society
Mississippi Valley Airways. Among carriers with on-again, off-agin service to Winona. This flight schedule is from 1973.