BusinessNovember 12, 2007
Once more on the wing
Commercial passenger air service is returning to Cape Girardeau and not a moment too soon, Cape Girardeau Regional Airport manager Bruce Loy said. There will be two flights daily from Cape Girardeau to Cincinnati beginning Nov. 18. A third flight will be added soon, with a tentative starting date for mid-December. The new carrier for the airport, Big Sky Airlines, won the contract in March, but difficulties in finding airplanes and pilots delayed the beginning of service...
Commercial passenger air service is returning to Cape Girardeau and not a moment too soon, Cape Girardeau Regional Airport manager Bruce Loy said.
There will be two flights daily from Cape Girardeau to Cincinnati beginning Nov. 18. A third flight will be added soon, with a tentative starting date for mid-December. The new carrier for the airport, Big Sky Airlines, won the contract in March, but difficulties in finding airplanes and pilots delayed the beginning of service.
The inaugural flight, scheduled to take off at 1:45 p.m. Nov. 18, will be the first passenger flight out of Cape Girardeau since RegionsAir was forced to shut down in March by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The basic fare from Cape Girardeau to Cincinnati will be $250 round-trip plus taxes and fees. For passengers flying beyond Cincinnati, the fare will be included in the price of the full ticket package. Big Sky will work under contract with Delta Airlines to provide connecting flights to other destinations.
"It's been unfortunate with what happened to RegionsAir that we did not do it the way it should have been done with the Essential Air Services program," Loy said. "I certainly don't blame Delta or Big Sky."
To promote the new service, the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual transportation event at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the airport, providing an opportunity to meet airport and airline officials and learn details of the new service.
The lengthy absence of air service means starting over to convince area travelers, who had been using the airport in increasing numbers, that Big Sky offers advantages over driving to St. Louis or Memphis, Tenn., for flights, Loy said.
The airport recorded 7,933 boardings in 2006, up 17.4 percent over 2005, after RegionsAir began offering a fourth daily flight to St. Louis.
"We want to get people used to using the airport again," Loy said. "We need to change their habits back so they at least look at the situation and that they have another option now."
Big Sky, based in Montana, won a $3.3 million U.S. Department of Transportation contract in March under the Essential Air Services program. The contract, which runs for two years, pays Big Sky to provide service to Cape Girardeau as well as Jackson, Tenn., and Owensboro, Ky. The contract was awarded based on the Cape Girardeau City Council's endorsement of the Big Sky bid over Great Lakes Airlines, which offered continued service to St. Louis.
Procter & Gamble, a major local employer with headquarters in Cincinnati, told city officials that its employees make 2,000 roundtrips to Cincinnati each year.
The Cape Girardeau fare is the highest of the three cities -- with taxes and fees, a round-trip is listed at $278 on the Orbitz.com travel Web site. The same round-trip to Cincinnati from Jackson, Tenn., will cost $148; from Owensboro, the price will be $144.
Big Sky will operate 19-passenger Beechcraft 1900 turboprop aircraft from each airport.
While the absence of air service has created a small strain on the airport's operating budget, Loy said his goal is to build passenger departures to 10,000 a year. At that point, he said, the airport would be able to obtain a guaranteed federal grant of $1 million annually to support operations. "Then it becomes a significant part of the budget," Loy said.
With the absence of air service, there are no car rental services available at the airport, but Loy said Hertz will be in the airport soon after flights resume, as will Enterprise.
Big Sky will have four employees on hand for customer service. The manager, Jennifer Cavaniss, is a recent graduate of Metro Business College. "We are very excited just to be here," she said.
Since January, Tina Rosanswank has operated the Drop Zone restaurant at the airport. While the eatery has a good draw from people who work in the area, Rosanswank said she'll welcome the return of air service as a chance to showcase her offerings to people who otherwise wouldn't think of the airport as a place to find a meal.
"Business has been doing very well despite the airline being closed," Rosanswank said. "But I'm hoping it will bring in people who haven't been here."
Whether the hoped-for return of passengers and the expected heavy use by Procter & Gamble executives occurs will take a few months to sort out, Loy said. "I expect it to take three to six months to begin to come back to normal."
rkeller@semissourian.com
335-6611, extension 126
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Air service schedule
Big Sky Airlines will begin offering two flights a day from Cape Girardeau to Cincinatti beginning Nov. 18. A third daily round-trip will be added in December.
Schedule beginning Nov. 18
Depart Cape Girardeau: 1:45 p.m.
Arrive Cincinnati: 4:10 p.m.
Depart Cape Girardeau: 5:35 p.m.
Arrive Cincinnati: 8 p.m.
Depart Cincinnati: 1 p.m.
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Arrive Cape Girardeau: 1:25 p.m.
Depart Cincinnati: 4:50 p.m.
Arrive Cape Girardeau: 5:15 p.m.
Schedule beginning December 16:
Depart Cape Girardeau: 5:45 a.m.
Arrive Cincinnati: 8:10 a.m.
Depart Cape Girardeau: 12:35 p.m.
Arrive Cincinnati: 3 p.m.
Depart Cape Girardeau: 4:25 p.m.
Arrive Cincinnati: 6:50 p.m.
Depart Cincinnati: 11:50 a.m.
Arrive Cape Girardeau: 12:15 p.m.
Depart Cincinnati: 3:40 p.m.
Arrive Cape Girardeau: 4:05 p.m.
Depart Cincinnati: 7:35 p.m.
Arrive Cape Girardeau: 8 p.m.
Source: Cape Girardeau Regional Airport
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Air fare comparison
Big Sky Airlines will charge $250 plus taxes and fees for roundtrip flights from Cape Girardeau to Cincinnati. The rates for flying beyond Cincinnati are set by Delta Airlines, which is Big Sky's major airline connecting partner. The Southeast Missourian used Orbitz.Com to compare mid-December round-trip fares to Dallas, New York and London with starting points of Cape Girardeau, St. Louis and Memphis. Fares include a weekend stay and are the lowest available, including taxes and fees:
Dallas
From Cape Girardeau: $268, 1 stop
From St. Louis: $123, Non-stop
From Memphis: $260, Non-stop
New York
From Cape Girardeau: $411, 1 stop
From St. Louis: $243, 1 stop
From Memphis: $258, 1 stop
London
From Cape Girardeau: $906, 2 stops
From St. Louis: $716, 1 stop
From Memphis: $659, 1 stop
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