Airport cuts early, late flights

After a rash of recent cancellations by the local carrier, the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport is altering its schedule and cutting out early and late flights.

The revised flight schedule will offer an 8:20 a.m. arrival from St. Louis and an 8:40 a.m. departure from Cape Girardeau; a 1:45 p.m. arrival and a 2:10 departure; a 3:30 p.m. arrival and 3:50 p.m. departure; a 5:55 p.m. arrival and a 6:15 p.m. departure.

The total number of flights will stay the same, but all flights are now concentrated in the middle of the day. Flights that had previously departed at 6:15 a.m. and 8:22 p.m. from Cape Girardeau will now leave later in the morning and earlier in the evening, respectively.

The cancellations by the local carrier, RegionsAir, took airport officials by surprise.

In December, 25 of the airport's 104 scheduled departing flights were canceled, 21 due to mechanical problems and the remainder due to bad weather. Overall, the cancellation rate was 8 percent in 2006. Cancellation rates haven't been higher than 3 percent in any year since 2003.

"We have not had a year like this in years and years," said airport manager Bruce Loy.

The poor performance came during an overall positive year for the airport. Cape Girardeau had 8,270 passengers in 2006, up 18 percent from 2005.

"This just couldn't have happened at a worse time. You get cancellations a couple or three times and people just give up," Loy said, referring to holiday travelers.

Loy said service from RegionsAir was less than stellar in 2006. "They've had some mechanical problems, and they've had trouble catching up," said Loy, who added that the mechanical problems never put passengers in danger. "They've struggled, and it has affected us."

Douglas Caldwell, president and CEO of RegionsAir, acknowledged the problems, which he said have mainly been due to birds colliding with plane engines. That can put engines out of operation for weeks at a time and leave the airline without a plane to fly the Cape Girardeau route.

Since spring, Caldwell said, his fleet of 14 planes has experienced eight events requiring the removal of a plane from the fleet.

The number of bird collisions was unusually high in 2006, according to Caldwell. "In one city we had two of them less than a week apart at the same airport. And this airport said they had had no bird strikes in 10 years," he said. None of the collisions occurred at Cape Girardeau.

Caldwell said the removals often require flying in a new engine from RegionsAir's parts provider in Australia. That typically costs $150,000.

RegionsAir operates as an American Airlines connection service in St. Louis, where it flies to destinations in six states.

The two-year contract between RegionsAir and the U.S. Department of Transportation, through the federal Essential Air Service program, will expire Feb. 12. Because the contract is up and the carrier has struggled, Loy said, changing carriers is a possibility.

Created in 1978, Essential Air subsidizes carriers to fly to low-population areas. Carriers flying to Cape Girardeau receive higher subsidies through the program than at any other airport in Missouri.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is now taking bids from carriers that would like to provide service to Cape Girardeau. RegionsAir will place a bid, Caldwell said.

Loy said he will court potential carriers by directly calling them and stating his preference to the U.S. Department of Transportation. He does not oppose giving a new contract to RegionsAir but will expect better performance.

He said the expansion of service to new destinations, such as Chicago, Kansas City, Memphis and Cincinnati, is also a possibility.

The current contract between RegionsAir and the Department of Transportation was for $1.15 million annually.

Caldwell said he would not be surprised if the next contract is pricier due to unpredictable fuel costs. Carriers must predict the cost of fuel two years down the road and write that into the bid.

"Obviously it wasn't enough this last time. Fuel went to, at one point, double what it was when we bid," he said. "If you bid it high, then you may not get it. But if you bid low, you might incur some severe financial hardships."

tgreaney@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245