RHI celebrates inaugural United Express flight from Chicago O’Hare

The Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport (RHI) held a ceremony and ribbon cutting to celebrate the inaugural United Express flight touching down on May 22. The airport is now offering United Express flights to and from Chicago O’Hare International Airport on a seasonal basis.

Members of the Rhinelander city council, Oneida County board, airport commission and more shared a few words with regard to how great this is for the airport and how important it is for the community. 

Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport director Matthew Leitner thanks his staff for helping the airport begin offering United Express flights on a seasonal basis during a ceremony for the inaugural United Express flight landing on Thursday, May 22, in Rhinelander.
(Photo by Trevor Greene/Lakeland Times)

After remarks were made a ribbon cutting was held, attendees were invited to watch the United Express flight land and see a celebratory water cannon salute, something airport director Matthew Leitner indicated is a tradition saved for special occasions within the aviation community. 

Leitner and airport staff were praised by those who spoke during the ceremony. 

When Leitner spoke, he said much of the credit for getting United Express at RHI is due to his staff. While he highlighted all of his staff, he mentioned specifically assistant director Angie Frey and operations supervisor Chris Payne. 

“And at events like this, it’s often the unseen people, right?” Leitner said. “I just checked FlightAware and the (inaugural) flight from Chicago is on time … it’s actually going to be a few minutes early.”

Tourism development specialist Christopher Jennings of the state Department of Tourism, Greater Minocqua Area Visitors Bureau president and CEO Krystal Westfahl and Rhinelander Chamber of Commerce CEO Lauren Sackett took a few moments to speak with the media following the ribbon cutting. They all provided remarks during the ceremony. 

Jennings said it’s important for RHI to add another airline for the summer season because it benefits the economy in a big way. 

“From a tourism standpoint, arrivals are the most important thing,” he said. “… We assign a figure of $219 for every overnight stay. So for anyone who’s potentially on a flight, that’s potentially $219 for the area per night, a single night stay.”

Westfahl stressed that though many may think RHI is only an asset for Rhinelander, it’s not. It’s an asset for the entire Northwoods area, especially the greater Minocqua area where she works to promote the business community. 

“We consider this a Northwoods asset,” she said. “So this impacts so much more than just this local area. You know, I represent four communities in Northern Wisconsin, but it goes way beyond that. When we see travelers come through Rhinelander, we know they’re going to all points in between. We invest heavily in advertising out of this airport because we know the folks that are coming here are coming to the Northwoods for an experience, and they can get that in just about all of our communities.”

Westfahl also noted how crucial it is to have direct flights coming from Chicago during the tourism season because that is the “main tourism market” for the Northwoods. 

“So when we can see them not only driving to our market, but also flying to our market, it just adds so much more to the potential for tourism development and all the things that come along with it,” she said. 

Sackett said the chamber has heard from people on social media who expressed much excitement for the United Express flights to Rhinelander from Chicago. 

“It was comment after comment of people that were really excited about the flight opportunities,” she said. 

An additional airline supports the area, Sackett said, in more ways than just bringing more tourists to the areas. She said it will provide locals with a better flying option as well. 

“Aside from traditional family travel, leisure travel, business travel is really important for our community too,” she said. “Not only inbound, but outbound, it’s going to provide a ton of opportunities for our area businesses to directly connect with suppliers or potential clients. So that’s a very important factor as well.”

Trevor Greene may be reached via email at [email protected].