Public invited to Monday event opening air travel between Quincy and Nashville

Published 5:36 pm Friday, May 29, 2026

QUINCY — With the page of the calendar set to turn, a new chapter in travel to and from the Gem City will begin.

The City of Quincy will join with Contour Airlines for a public event at noon on Monday at Quincy Regional Airport to begin flights between Qunicy and Nashville, Tenn. Even before the first bag is checked, city officials are optimistic over the response to the change.

“I’ve been seeing some early numbers coming out on tickets,” Quincy Airport Director Bill Lantz said on Friday. “We already have around 20 passengers going to Nashville, and we still have a Chicago flight with passengers on it. To me, that’s very exciting news.”

Contour Airlines took over as the Essential Air Service Provider for Quincy in November. The EAS contract from the U.S. Department of Transportation calls for 12 round trips weekly to and from Quincy. Since the contract started, all 12 of those trips have been in and out of O’Hare Airport in Chicago. This has led to challenges that are outside of the control of both city and airline officials.

“We’ve been put on ground-stops here because of the congestion at O’Hare, but that’s all stuff out of the airline’s control,” Lantz said. “As far as scheduling flights, accomplishing flights, what they said they were going to do versus what they’re actually accomplishing, we’ve seen a big increase in reliability there.”

The current schedule will see flights departing from Quincy to Nashville most afternoons, with return flights leaving Nashville around 8 a.m. on most days. There will be no flights either direction between Quincy and Nashville on Tuesdays or Saturdays.

Quincy Mayor Linda Moore said the schedule is still not perfect, but she said Contour has been a true partner in trying to dial in the flights to meet the needs of both the airline and the community.

“I think our passengers were looking for an alternative,” Moore said. “Even though the timing of the departures (from Nashville) isn’t ideal, we’re on the radar, we’ve got our foot in the door.”

Moore said she was surprised to see the direction of travel early sales have shown, with more ticket booking starting from Quincy to Nashville rather than returning back to Quincy.

“I kind of thought it would be Nashville people flying through Quincy to get to Chicago and I was afraid our people wouldn’t get on it,” she said. “But what we’ve seen so far, it’s more Quincy to Nashville.”

Moore said she’s heard a lot of interest in group trips, including things like weekend getaways and bachelorette parties looking at the flights.

Lantz shared the mayor’s outlook on the scheduling changes, noting that Contour has been open to feedback, even if there’s not an immediate solution available. He said there are changes being made at O’Hare that will help relieve some of the strain on that route, including the announcement that Southwest Airlines will be wrapping up all of their service at O’Hare, relying on their Midway hub instead.

“I think we might see some better flight schedules, meaning a little more conducive to Quincy and our customers’ time, but it’s not going to be an overnight situation,” Lantz sad., “But they are working with us. They’re hearing our pain.”

Lantz also noted that a lot of customers should be looking forward to a restored connection between Quincy Regional and flights on Southwest Airlines, a staple of the previous carrier connecting passengers through St. Louis.

“I think this will prove to be a good deal,” he said. This is going to give us a great connection back to Southwest Airlines. There’s more Southwest flights now out of Nashville than there are out of St. Louis.”

Lantz did note that there is no code-share agreement between Contour and Southwest, so passengers will have to collect and recheck bags, but the branches leading out of Nashville on a number of airlines open more opportunities for travelers.

Moore said the key to success between any municipal government and an EAS provider is to make sure it’s a true two-way street. She said she’s been thrilled with the work done between Contour and the City.

“It’s all about partnership,” she said. “Contour can’t do this alone, the city can’t do it alone, we have to work together. We have to be able to collaborate to find the best way to achieve our goals.

“For the city, our goal is to maintain Essential Air Service, and provide that service for our residents. For Contour, their goal is to maintain profitability while servicing their clients. Those two things fit very well together, and I think we both want to see each other succeed. We have the same overall objective, so it’s a little bit easier to work together to make that happen.”

With the kickoff for Nashville travel set for Monday, the public is invited to the airport for the celebration of the new service. Those in attendance will also be eligible for entry into a drawing for a set of round-trip tickets on the new route.

For more information or to book flights, visit countourairlines.com or follow the company or the City of Quincy on Facebook.