It's getting harder for passengers to fly out of the Rockford airport, as RFD sheds another destination Wednesday. Local travelers are disappointed Southern Skyways is leaving Rockford and taking away the last option for flying to Denver.

Julie Harden is about to wave goodbye to the convenient trip she's grown used to in visiting her out-of-town daughter.
"In October I am going to Denver and I had hoped, as a matter of fact, I've been looking for tickets online from Rockford and just finding out that we're not going to be able to fly from here is very disappointing," says Harden.
Harden says she'll have to pack her bags for Chicago O'Hare now. RFD's executive director Bob O'Brien says that option is making it hard to compete.
"The vast majority of the people are subconsciously, if not consciously addicted to Chicago O'Hare. It's almost as if they forget, on occasion, to look at the possibilities here," says O'Brien.
But many travelers tell us they far prefer RFD to O'Hare and they're frustrated to watch local options disappear. Southern Skyways first pulled out of Myrtle beach and now Denver, while United canceled its flights to Denver earlier this summer. Now Allegiant is the only passenger airline left at RFD.
"I think it's very unfortunate that Rockford can't get it together and keep us in flights, no matter where we need to go," says RFD flyer Leta Woolbright.
O'Brien says high gas prices are crippling the industry and about to set off a major and unprecedented shift in air travel.
"Everybody will have to pay more and others will have to find a different way to do it," says O'Brien.
But he's still feeling positive. RFD's passenger service has grown from 14-hundred flyers in 2002, to more than 200-thousand last year and cargo service at the airport is booming.
"We have come a long ways and we have a lot to be proud of collectively," says O'Brien. "We need to see this as a bump in the road and go forward from there."

The "Day Trips" Southern Skyways was flying are now over too, even though they were popular. O'Brien used the analogy that Southern Skys continuing just those flights would be like owning a house and only renting out the bathroom. It just wouln't be enough to cover costs.

O'Brien says he's hopeful all the flights can return. He believes if the community rallies and chooses RFD, passenger service can increase to half a million flyers in five years.
He's also hopeful that increasing fuel costs will push overseas cargo flyers out of airports like O'Hare, bringing more cargo business here. A new 15 to 20 million dollar cargo project broke ground earlier this week.

For now, the last Southern flights will be August 18th. Anything up to and on that date is scheduled to go ahead. Ticket holders for flights after the 18th will receive a cancellation notice and a full refund.