Inaugural Flight, Cape Girardeau/Paducah

George Bray, center, chairman of the airport board for Barkley Regional Airport, laughs while preparing to cut a ceremonial ribbon with oversized scissors after the first flight from Cape Girardeau to Paducah, Kentucky, Monday, Jan. 7, 2019. (Tyler Graef ~ Southeast Missourian)

Rural land is seen from the air during a flight from Paducah, Kentucky, to Cape Girardeau Monday, Jan. 7, 2019. (Tyler Graef ~ Southeast Missourian)

Sylvie Poulin, of Quebec, Canada, is illuminated by her cell phone screen in the darkened plane cabin during the pre-dawn inaugural flight from Cape Girardeau to Paducah, Kentucky, Monday, Jan. 7, 2019. (Tyler Graef ~ Southeast Missourian)

Dawn breaks over the Ohio River as the inaugural flight from Cape Girardeau to Paducah, Kentucky, nears Barkley Regional Airport Monday, Jan. 7, 2019. (Tyler Graef ~ Southeast Missourian)

Cape Girardeau Airport Board member Ryan Dewrock's cell phone displays a stopwatch in the darkened plane cabin during the pre-dawn inaugural flight from Cape Girardeau to Paducah, Kentucky, Monday, Jan. 7, 2019. Dewrock timed the first flight, which was short. (Tyler Graef ~ Southeast Missourian)

Robert Reynolds, a retired U.S. Marine staff sergeant who now works for the FAA at the airport in Paducah, Kentucky, poses for a portrait as dawn breaks over Barkley Regional Airport Monday, Jan. 7, 2019. (Tyler Graef ~ Southeast Missourian)

Grant Crumes, a staffer at the airport in Paducah, Kentucky, poses for a portrait as dawn breaks over Barkley Regional Airport Monday, Jan. 7, 2019. "I'm an early bird. I get a lot done," he said. "It'll cancel you out early though, man. Come 5:30, you ready to go to sleep." (Tyler Graef ~ Southeast Missourian)

The lobby of Barkley Regional Airport is seen Monday, Jan. 7, 2019. (Tyler Graef ~ Southeast Missourian)