Major airport near Madison (Milwaukee, Jefferson: rent, hotels, construction)

[ILI.EB]

Hello everybody,

One day, I would be interested in living in Madison, but the lack of a major airport to fly to the east or west coasts is a deal breaker. Are there any plans for a major airport in the near future? Does anybody see this happening or is it just a dream?

Thanks!

[7G9C4J2]

Major airports tend to be located near major population centers, and Madison is unlikely to qualify as a big city for decades, if ever. I doubt that you'll ever see a hub-type facility here, and direct-to-the-coasts flights are likely to be extremely rare (like one a day at best).

Milwaukee's airport, on the other hand, is very large and does have direct flights to the coast. It's about an hour and a quarter from Madison's east side to the Milwaukee airport, and at least in my experience, I would far, far rather fly into and out of MKE than O'Hare or Midway. It's a very nice facility indeed, big enough to get the direct flights but not the size of a small town the way O'Hare is (or worse yet, DFW).

You might consider settling in one of the communities between Madison and Milwaukee to get the best of both places. Milwaukee frankly has a lot more to offer in terms of action, cultural interest points, professional sports and so on, so it's not at all a bad thing to pick a point between the two and enjoy both cities.

Good luck, hope you find a place that suits you.

[Drewjdeg]

here is a map of where you can fly out of madison. Dane County Regional Airport | Where We Fly . if we had high speed rail, I would say just fly to Milwaukee. But we dont. That makes me mad.

[ranger17]

i second using MKE to fly in or out of even if Madison is the final spot. A few years ago MSN was easy and cheap enough to use frequently, but now it's getting harder to afford it. And the traffic to deal with to Chicago (my .02 anyway) is not worth saving a small amount over MKE which is decent to get to and get around in. And i wouldnt bother looking north, as MSP in the Twin Cities is a 4 hour drive....

In fact i'm in same situation down here now, Columbia is a bigger market then Madison but it has a similar sized regional airport. So if i need to fly somewhere, i drive 1.5 hours to Charlotte.

It's a vicious circle, airlines say they need more passengers to use a given airport to lower costs, but their costs are too high to even try it.... and round and round we go...

3.5 years ago we flew from MSN to Columbia for less then 300 bucks. I ran a quote the other day and it was 650-1000 lol. So now we drive back to WI when we visit.

[Milwaukee City]

Originally Posted by Drewjdeg

here is a map of where you can fly out of madison. Dane County Regional Airport | Where We Fly . if we had high speed rail, I would say just fly to Milwaukee. But we dont. That makes me mad.

You could just take the bus as well.

https://www.badgerbus.com/tickets/locations.aspx

[Drewjdeg]

If I was a tourist, high speed rail would be my first choice.

[ILI.EB]

Thank you all for the replies.
Is winter travel to MKE difficult? What would a realistic time be from Madison to MKE on a moderately snowy day?

[ranger17]

if i remember correctly, we made that run in spring in about 1.5 hours, +/- considering there was some major construction near MKE. So if you assume your hiway portion cuts from 65 to say 40 mph due to snow, maybe it's a 2 hour trip? Just an estimate..

obviously if it's a good 'ol blizzard it would be longer, but you wouldnt be flying out anyway lol

[Milwaukee City]

I have several friends that live in Dane and Jefferson county and they usually fly out of Madison on a connector flight to Milwaukee then fly to where ever they are going. I'm sure it cost more than driving the 1.5-2 hours but in winter time it just might be worth the hassle especially if your flight is due to leave Milwaukee at say 5 or 6 then driving to Madison's airport and flying into Milwaukee might be easier than having to deal with rush hour traffic, checking in, security and construction in Milwaukee County. I'm sure parking is cheaper than in Milwaukee and security is probably less of a hassle in Madison.

[Radical347]

You could rent a hotel in Milwaukee the night before and leave your car & take a shuttle to the airport. Some hotels allow that & have free shuttles.