Airport favors contract renewal for Cape Air

A new commercial air service provider contract for Cape Air may be a step closer to reality after Monday's Cape Girardeau city council meeting.

During a special meeting Wednesday, the city's airport advisory board selected the airline as its first choice to provide commercial flights at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport for the next two years. A resolution up for consideration by the council Monday would authorize the city manager to send a recommendation letter for a contract to the United States Department of Transportation, which oversees a program that supports commercial air service at the airport.

Cape Air, which has provided commercial flights from Cape Girardeau to St. Louis since 2009, submitted a new contract proposal with several options to the airport in June.

Another airline, Air Choice One, also submitted a proposal.

The airport's current contract with Cape Air expires in November, and airport manager Bruce Loy said the airport would like the airline to continue providing flights because Cape Air has increased passenger boardings annually and improved the airport's reputation for reliability through on-time flights and good service.

"We don't see a need for switching," Loy said. "They have done a great job for us so far."

A two-year contract option offered by Cape Air, Loy said, leaves room for more conversation between the airport and the airline about improvements that could include new aircraft, routes and schedules.

Cape Air and Air Choice One also offered four-year contract options.

If the council approves the recommendation, the U.S. Department of Transportation also will receive a request in the contract to add two flights to each weekend day. That would bring the total weekly number round-trip flights between Cape Girardeau and St. Louis to 28.

The airline offers 24 weekly round-trip flights, including four daily on weekdays and two daily on weekends. The Department of Transportation would need to approve the additional trips. The council also can decide to amend the proposed contract length before a recommendation. A new contract should be in place before the end of the summer, Loy said.

A two-year contract with Cape Air would start at $2,283,572 for the first year and rise to $2,374,915 in the second year. The higher rate is calculated by the airline's alignment of revenue with costs over time. A four-year contract would start out slightly less per year than the two-year starting amount and rise to just over $2.5 million in the fourth year.

Cape Air uses nine-passenger Cessna 402s for round-trip flights to St. Louis and offers a downtown ticket office in Cape Girardeau and interterminal shuttles to Delta Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines at Lambert-St.Louis International Airport. One-way fares cost $50.

The airline provided 6,511 passengers with outbound flights to St. Louis in 2014, according to figures provided by Loy, which is the highest number seen at the airport in nearly 10 years.

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