Search for second airline to serve La Crosse continues, as airport requests money from the county

The La Crosse Airport continues to look for more airline service, and it’s been seeking help from the county government.

Airport officials spoke at the county’s annual budget meeting on Tuesday, requesting around $250,000 to support efforts to attract new airlines. Airport director Jeffrey Tripp talked about a new air service workers group, which has set goals for improving local air service.

Tripp said the top goals of the group are to add more flights or destinations, regain air service to Minneapolis, or to attract a low-cost airline for leisure travel through La Crosse.

Airport business manager J.D. Roberts told the board that competing airlines will help bring local ticket prices down.

“The main way that we can lower ticket price is through competition,” said Roberts. “If we can get another airline in, to provide some competition to American, we can lower some of those prices.” The county board approved the funding allocation for the airport.

Delta ended service in La Crosse last year, leaving American as the only airline with scheduled flights in and out of the city. American brought in larger planes for daily service about six months ago.

The number of passengers using the airport is at higher levels, compared to a year ago. The airport says 3776 passengers were counted at LSE in September. That’s down from 4096 in August, but 34 per cent above the 2799 reported in September of 2023.