American Airlines brings larger planes to La Crosse airport

It was almost a year ago when Delta Air Lines ended daily service to the La Crosse Airport, reducing the level of commercial airline traffic in the city.

American remains the only major airline now serving LSE, and it has just increased the capacity of its local flights by bringing in larger planes.

Monday was the first day of local service for the larger E-175 plane, which has 26 more seats than the previous American planes in La Crosse.

Airport business manager J.D. Roberts says it is a big deal for larger planes to be traveling to and from La Crosse.

“Our area loves to travel,” Roberts tells reporters, “and we’ve definitely seen that over many years.”

“With recent events in our air service development,” he says, “we’re really happy to get this back, to offer our passengers additional capabilities, additional connectivity around the world.”

Roberts says he is ‘very confident’ that the community can attract another airline to serve LSE along with American.

The E-175 has 76 seats, to handle more passengers in and out of the city. Roberts hopes the larger plane will help stimulate passenger demand.

American has five flights in or out of La Crosse each day, and it is still the only major airline at the airport, after Delta ended La Crosse service last June.