AIRPORT MANAGER DISCUSSES FACILITY IMPROVEMENTS

Additional airlines in Cape Girardeau could help keep costs to passengers down, provide new airport connections and improve scheduling for weekend travelers.

"These are three of the primary concerns that have been expressed by area travel agencies," said Randy Holdman, guest speaker at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's First Friday Coffee.

Holdman, who has been manager of Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport since June, discussed recent and planned improvements at the airport in his address to a near-capacity crowd at Drury Lodge Friday.

"We recently surveyed 20 travel agencies concerning their travel wishes concerning the airport," said Holdman. "We found that Chicago was the number-one destination of the majority of travelers out of the Cape Girardeau Airport -- about 650 passengers a month."

The survey also revealed that as many as 1,900 people a year want to travel to St. Louis as a destination.

"Many of these people now drive or use land-surface transportation because of the cost of flying to St. Louis without a Trans World connection."

Travelers receive Trans World Express (TWE) price breaks if they continue their flight from St. Louis with TWA, but connections to other airlines can drive the cost of the Cape Girardeau flight considerably higher.

"With a TWA connection out of St. Louis, passengers can fly TWE to Lambert Field for about $20," said Holdman. "But a one-way ticket to St. Louis without a TWA connection is more than $200."

Holdman said competition will lead to more boardings and offer an advantage that the airport currently does not have.

"St. Louis is our only destination now," he said. "If Lambert is closed because of weather conditions, nobody flies out of here. If we get a Chicago destination, we have a choice, and in many instances the Chicago airport will be open when others are closed."

Holdman told the group he plans to approach Midway Connection, a new commuter airline beginning to service cities within a 300-mile radius of Chicago. Holdman said he would also like to add a southern destination.

Holdman said a new early-Sunday-afternoon flight will be added by TWE in January. The Sunday evening flight is now at 7:30.

TWE runs three flights a day Mondays through Fridays: 7:30 and 10:30 a.m., and 6:30 p.m. There are only three flights over the weekend, two Saturday and one Sunday.

"The Cape Girardeau airport has come a long way over the past five years," said Holdman. "Things are happening here. Work on a multi-million dollar airport renovation project is continuing. A $1.1 million terminal building renovation was completed recently, and improvements are continuing on the parking lot.

"The lights are in, and only the final paving remains to complete the parking lot," said Holdman. "The final paving will probably wait until spring. Future improvements include expansion of the airport apron with a new taxi-way and new wiring for lighting on the main runway."

Boardings at the airport have been up during the past few months.

"During the flood we were the only airport open between St. Louis and Memphis," said Holdman. "We had 484 boardings in October, the largest single month in three years."

November boardings are also over the 400 mark, at 453, surpassing the November 1992 numbers by 75.

Boardings for 1993 have been up significantly over the past six months -- June to November -- averaging about 460 a month, with 2,754 boardings. Numbers for the year to date -- January through November -- show 4,516 in 1993, an overall average of 410.