Cargo traffic rises at night at C.R. airport

Once the final passengers clear out from their flights to cities like Chicago, Detroit or Dallas, the planes without passengers really fill up at The Eastern Iowa Airport.

'In 2009, we did 23,000 tons,' airport director Tim Bradshaw said.

'That equates to about 47 million pounds of cargo last year.' Activity builds as the sun goes down.

'It's primarily a nighttime operation,' Bradshaw said. 'Not much during the day. The cargo goes to the sorting facilities and returns to Cedar Rapids in the morning.' Friday's incident with multiple packages intercepted en route to the United States has focused attention on security with cargo planes.

'The security is done in different measures and, a lot of times, they don't disclose those measures, such as the known shipper program, explosive detection equipment and K9 units as well,' Bradshaw said.

Bradshaw said Cedar Rapids doesn't even have dozens of cargo planes coming through each day.

'Maybe four or five aircraft per day,' Bradshaw said. 'But a lot of trucks come in here as well, trucks transferring to the aircraft.' A major reason the airport is a destination for UPS, FedEx and DHL is location. Bradshaw said the easy access to the highways, Interstate 380 and Interstate 80 has been a key drawing point.