Chicago Rockford International Airport

Public Relations Campaign: American Airlines Landline Service at Chicago Rockford International Airport

Chicago Rockford International Airport (RFD) partnered with American Airlines and The Landline Company to launch a ground-to-air service connecting travelers from Rockford to Chicago O’Hare through luxury motorcoach transportation booked directly with their flights.

Because the model was new to many travelers, the launch required a strategic public relations campaign focused on education, awareness, and media visibility. CWA Economic Development Marketing led communications for the announcement and rollout, helping introduce the service to regional audiences and position RFD as an innovative and growing transportation hub.

The Challenge

Because Landline introduced a new ground-to-air travel model, travelers first needed to understand what it was, how it worked, and why they could trust it as part of their journey.

RFD needed to clearly communicate:

How the service worked
What the passenger journey looked like
Why it offered value to regional travelers
How it expanded access to American Airlines’ broader network
Why the service benefited travelers in the Rockford region

Solution

Chartwell built a launch communications strategy designed to do two things at once: generate regional visibility and make the new service easy for travelers to understand.

The campaign combined earned media, press events, social content, and educational materials to turn an unfamiliar travel concept into a clear, accessible message.

Strategy

To support the launch, Chartwell:

Announced the launch through a press release and proactive media outreach across Rockford and surrounding counties
Created a hands-on media experience with a dedicated press event, leadership interviews, and motorcoach tours
Provided media with educational materials that explained the service model, passenger process, and traveler benefits
Extended awareness on social media through video reels and organic content that explained the simplicity of the service and built passenger confidence to take advantage of the opportunity

The strategy focused heavily on visual storytelling and hands-on media experiences to help audiences better understand the service and its benefits.

Outcomes

The campaign delivered strong regional visibility and helped introduce the service to a broach audience before and after launch.

Key results in the first 6 months included:

555,000+ people reached organically through social media efforts
2 million average monthly earned media audience reach
6,400+ social interactions including reactions, comments, and shares
38,787 landing page views on FlyRFD.com/Landline
In less than 5 months of launching, ticket sales increased nearly 400% and after 7 months it remained more than 145% above launch-month levels.

See the American Airlines Landline Service Digital Campaign case study to explore the supporting digital strategy and results.

Together, these results showed strong market awareness and meaningful audience engagement for a new and unfamiliar travel offering.