Airport board recommends sticking with SkyWest

The Cape Girardeau Regional Airport Advisory Board (AAB) has voted unanimously in recommending SkyWest Airlines continue as the airport's essential air service (EAS) provider.

AAB's May 26 endorsement now goes to Cape Girardeau City Council on Monday for its consideration.

If city lawmakers concur, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) will make the final decision on what airline will service the airport.

Utah-based SkyWest, which operates 50-passenger CRJ-200 jets under the United Express brand, was awarded an initial agreement to serve the facility, located in northern Scott County, in 2017.

Multiple bids

SkyWest's bid was favored over another plan offered by St. Louis-based Air Choice One.

"SkyWest's proposal was to continue 12 weekly departing flights to Chicago's O'Hare Airport on a three-year contract," said airport manager Katrina Amos, who said if the USDOT gives the green light, SkyWest, currently operating on a two-year arrangement, will be the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport's EAS provider through December 2024.

"SkyWest has offered (us) great service, has been reliable and dependable, and from Chicago, (a passenger) can go virtually anywhere in the U.S. and the world," Amos said.

"Air Choice One gave us a great proposal but with SkyWest we know we can get to 10,000 (annual) enplanements and that's huge for us," she said, noting in 2019, the airport had its best volume -- in excess of 11,000 passengers -- in more than two decades, with SkyWest as EAS carrier.

"We want to maintain our primary airport status and it would be more difficult to do that with the nine-passenger aircraft Air Choice One uses," Amos said.

Primary airport status is achieved when the 10,000-passenger threshold is reached, entitling the airport to federal grant funding.

Air Choice One, according to Amos, was offering four flights a day on its nine-passenger aircraft -- two to Nashville, Tennesee, and two to St. Louis.

"Offering different destination options is appealing but it has to make sense," Amos said, adding in the end, Air Choice One would have meant more destinations but moving notably fewer passengers.

SkyWest's larger aircraft was also able to offer what its bid competitor could not -- a lavatory and a flight attendant aboard each plane.

"SkyWest has been working for our community and once we build back to our 2019 numbers, maybe we can explore more options," she said.

EAS

The Essential Air Service was created by the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 and subsidizes airlines to serve communities across the U.S. that otherwise would not receive scheduled air service.

According to the USDOT, in a March report, EAS total subsides amounted to more than $339 million annually.

Joplin and Kirksville also have EAS carrier status in Missouri. Joplin is served by SkyWest while Kirksville has Cape Air -- which was the EAS carrier for Cape Girardeau Regional Airport from 2009 to 2017.