Airport board again votes to switch carrier

Cape Girardeau Airport Advisory Board members met for the second time in a week Friday, to go over a possible carrier service change in order to make an official recommendation for Monday's City Council meeting.

Board members ultimately voted unanimously to affirm their unanimous June 6 decision to recommend switching to Contour Aviation.

The decision was apparent from the outset of the meeting. While existing carrier SkyWest had met the noon proposal deadline Friday, numerous board members said their proposal was anything but firm.

"We can't do this based on 'mays,'" board member Jeff Brune said, referencing the word that he said was littered throughout SkyWest's proposal.

The proposal, despite being openly discussed in a public meeting, was not made public per SkyWest's wishes, according to airport manager Katrina Amos.

The lack of trust in SkyWest through Tuesday's board meeting carried over with the proposal doing nothing to assuage the board member's fears that SkyWest could cancel or change service at any point.

"It just seems to me that they (SkyWest) are asking us for a commitment, and I see very little, almost no, commitment to this," board member Mark Mehner said of the proposal.

The fear stated by board members was that SkyWest could be put in a position within months of having to terminate service or reduce flights to the point it would be impossible for the airport to reach its 10,000 enplanements goal.

The near 45-minute presentation from SkyWest representative Daniel Belmont was unable to change board members' minds.

Belmont, at numerous points in the meeting, said he would like to get into more specifics about the carrier's proposal next week even with the impending council meeting days away.

Amos said she was disappointed with the lack of clarity from SkyWest after the presentation and that the decision would now, once again, be turned over to the council.